New clause 5 - Provision of money for trade union modernisation
Employment Relations Bill
4:15 pm
Mr Jon Cruddas (Dagenham, Labour)
I will be brief, because most of the points that I wanted to raise were covered by my hon. Friend the Member for Hamilton, South, who summed up many of the issues.
It seems from our debate on the money resolution and the discussions in Committee this afternoon that there are two major concerns for the Opposition. The first is the idea that the provisions could somehow be used to bolster the political activities of trade unions and subsidise political activity. I hope that it would reassure them if the Government clarified the legal position surrounding the operation of trade union political funds, which was accurately described earlier. I can see why the Opposition raised that point, politically; but it seems so off the mark in terms of how the proposed fund will operate that I hope that clarification will neutralise their genuine concerns. I think that the Minister recognises that there are genuine concerns. If the fund were used for such purposes, it would be against the Bill's objectives for
modern trade unions to be agents for economic change making positive economic contributions.
The second concern is the ambiguity about what the fund might be used for. As the Minister said, there will be a lot of discussion over the coming period about honing the details of how the fund will operate and what it might be used for. I remember that certain considerations were raised when the partnership fund was introduced in the Employment Relations Act 1999. There were wild concerns that that was a form of political chicanery to ensure that trade unions were enhanced politically and industrially. It was feared that the fund would undermine our economic growth, and so on. The operation of the partnership fund has ruled out such concerns. When we consider that fund as a precursor of how this fund might work, the outlook is positive. I hope that that issue, too, can be neutralised in dialogue over the coming period.
Opposition Members made the clear point that they were not, in principle, against the state helping trade unions to modernise, because that is in the interests of our economy. At least that is what I understood the position to be; that was undoubtedly the attitude of the Liberals and, I think, some Conservatives, too. That seems to be the real discussion that we need to have. For my sins, I was reading through a number of the 17 research projects that have come out of the Economic and Social Research Council's future of work programme. The conclusions were quite clear: first, the trade unions are changing dramatically; secondly, there is a close correlation between efficient workplaces and organised workplaces, and the trade unions are key modernising agents for future economic prosperity. That is the underlying assumption in the new clause, and that is why I think that it is so welcome.
The other reason that the new clause needs to be included is the increasing demands on the trade unions, not least because of the Labour Government. We have talked about the role of the TUC, the partnership working around the framework for trade union recognition, and the partnership framework developed around information consultation.
From looking at some of the branches operating in my borough of Barking and Dagenham, I can say that the pressures on the trade union movement are immense, and it does not have the necessary skills or infrastructure to deal with them. For example, it is doing radical work with union learning representatives and to boost numeracy and literacy skills among the borough's labour force, and everyone would commend that. Also, the work that it is doing on the skills agenda more generally and on pension strategy is most welcome.
The basic organisation and recruitment needed to satisfy and operate big branches that are 2,000-strong plus is considerable, and unions have to do so on resources that have, in terms of physical labour, been dramatically reduced. They have had to cut their labour forces substantially, and they are not producing and investing enough in the technology that can help them to make their contribution, not just socially, in representing people at work or in education and training, but economically, so that they can tackle the
long-term structural problems in this country associated with low skills, wages and productivity. That is the key reason why this new clause is so welcome. It could have a radical agenda that should be supported by anyone who is interested in our economic success.
I agree with the underlying assumption that the trade union movement is a key agent for our future economic prosperity. I know that that is counterintuitive to many involved in this debate, given the recent industrial and political history of our country. However, many political parties have embarked on a modernising journey, and I hope that they will continue on it. If they do so, their supporters will be able fully to take on board some of the consequences of this argument. Competition on the basis of low wages, low skills, deregulation and the undermining of the institutions and infrastructures of labour market regulation might produce short-term economic gains. However, the downward spiral of disinvestment, de-industrialisation and low wages is no recipe for our long-term economic survival. That is why this new clause is so welcome, and I congratulate the Minister on tabling it.