Delegated Powers Memorandum To The Trade Union Bill Allows
For Total Strangulation Of trade Unions

On the face of it, the Trade Union Bill going through Parliament at the moment will infect all Trade Unions with a terminal illness and spells the end of workers rights in this country.

Whilst death may be the prognosis for Trade Unions, the Delegated Powers Memorandum To The Trade Union Bill is in fact the coffin they will buried in!

Giving extended powers to the Secretary of State to extend even further the restrictions upon trade union members right to strike, it also attacks the right of the Trade Unions to lobby Parliament and have a political voice as wells subjecting them to more financial penalties and regulation from the state.

One of the most dangerous elements within the Bill allows the Certification Officer to run a campaign of investigation into all Trade Unions at will without having first received a complaint.

In effect, the Government can police and prosecute Trade Unions at will, and through the Delegated Powers mechanism, move the goal posts and financially penalise Trade Unions into bankruptcy!

The Trade Union Bill itself contains 22 clauses and has 4 Schedules.

The Bill covers the following areas:

Clauses 2 and 3 make provisions for ballot thresholds for industrial action. Any action by a trade union will need a 50% turnout requirement, there will be an additional 40% support requirement in important public services in six key sectors.

Clauses 4 to 6 make provisions about information requirements relating to industrial action including: changes to the information requirements on the ballot paper by requiring detail on the nature of the dispute and the type of industrial action to be taken, alongside a general indication of the time period for action; makes changes to the notice of ballot results provided to members and employers; and imposes new annual reporting requirements to the Certification Officer (‘CO’).

Clauses 7 and 8 contain provisions about the timing and duration of industrial action. Two weeks’ notice is to be given to employers of industrial action (rather the current period of one week). In addition the mandate for industrial action is to expire four months after the date of ballot.

Clause 9 requires union supervision of picketing – a number of provisions in the statutory Code of Practice on Picketing are to become legal obligations in the Bill.

Clauses 10 and 11 make provision in relation to the payment of funds for political objects.

The clauses will require a union member to actively decide to contribute a proportion of their membership subscription to the union’s political fund. A union member will also be required to renew the decision to contribute (to the political fund) every 5 years. Where the annual amount spent on political expenditure is over £2,000, unions will be required to provide details of expenditure in their annual returns.

Clauses 12 and 13 will introduce two new regulation making powers. The first allows a Minister of the Crown to make regulations which require some or all public sector employers with one or more trade union representatives to publish information relating to time off taken by those representatives for trade union duties and activities.

The second allows a Minister of the Crown to make regulations exercising reserve powers for the purpose of applying a statutory cap to relevant public sector employers, where the Minister considers it appropriate to do so having regard to information published in accordance with publication requirements.

Clauses 14 to 16 expand the role of the Certification Officer.

These provisions will allow the Certification Officer to investigate and enforce breaches of statutory requirements without having to act upon a complaint from union members and where there has been a breach the Certification Officer will have the power to impose financial penalties (or warn of their use if certain action is not taken).

Clause 17 makes provision regarding a levy. This clause contains a regulation making power which will enable the Secretary of State to make affirmative regulations to provide for trade unions and employer associations to pay for the full recovery of the costs of running the Certification Office.

Clauses 18 to 22 contain general provisions including minor and consequential amendments to other enactments, the extent, commencement and title.

Schedule 1 – Investigatory powers of the CO: Schedule to be inserted into the 1992 Act.
Schedule 2 – Certification Officer: exercise of powers without application etc.
Schedule 3 – Certification Officer: powers to impose financial penalties: Schedule to be inserted into the 1992 Act.
Schedule 4 – Minor and consequential amendments.

But even worse is to come, making the Trade Unions in the UK far more regulated and under state control than any other country in the EU.

Delegated Powers Memorandum To The Trade Union Bill was published by the government's news network earlier in July and is subject to consultation which ends in September.

The Bill contains 11 delegated powers. The provisions in the Bill which confer these powers are identified below:

Clause 3(2): 40% support requirement in important public services

It is necessary to maintain a degree of flexibility in relation to this provision, in order to allow the Secretary of State to make the decision at the appropriate time to specify which roles or occupations within the affected sectors should be covered.

This provision by secondary legislation allows the Secretary of State to make modifications to the list of services covered as circumstances change over time.

Clause 11(1): Power to amend the prescribed amount above which political spending by unions must be included in the annual return

Where trade unions spend more than £2,000 per annum on political expenditure, they are required to provide details of that political expenditure in their annual returns, identifying the recipient for each different category of expenditures, amount paid and the nature of the expenditure.

Clause 12: Power to impose publication requirements on relevant public sector employers

This enables a Minister of the Crown to make regulations requiring some or all public sector employers with one or more trade union representatives to publish information relating to time off taken by those representatives for trade union duties and activities referred to as “facility time.

The information that could be required to be published includes the number of such representatives by type, time spent on trade union duties and activities, and details of the employers’ spending on trade union duties and activities.

The regulations may also specify which public sector bodies the requirements apply to, giving some flexibility to the Minister to identify particular sectors or bringing within scope bodies that are not public authorities but which, nevertheless, are performing functions of a public nature.  In other words, the power to extend the legislation to non-public sector bodies!

The publication requirement is being introduced as a tool to change behaviours, in other words eventually curtail or even abolish paid time off for Trade Union Reps and Safety Reps to conduct their responsibilities and representation on behalf of their union membership.

Clause 13: Power to enable the setting of a statutory cap on the overall amount of time and/or percentage of pay bill that can be spent on facility time

A blatant attack on facility time in order to move towards abolition or indeed by default due to the strangling of paid time off given to TU reps and safety reps.
The government says the intention is to improve transparency through publication requirements and encouraging employers to review their existing arrangements, the expectation is that relevant public sector employers will voluntarily re-negotiate facility time arrangements with their recognised trade unions.

Clause 17: Power to impose levy

This is in effect making Trade Unions pay for the time taken by the Certification Officer to investigate that Trade Union!

The regulations may make provisions for determining the following: amount of levy payable including by reference to the relevant trade union, by reference to a specified criteria (amount of members or income of the organisations, type of organisation and the different proportion of the CO’s expenses that are referable to each organisation) and what is to count as expenses by the CO.

The full document which is out for consultation can be downloaded here

The Trade Union Bill in full can be downloaded here

The TUC have issued a guidance to the Trade union Bill which can be downloaded here

The government is consulting on a number of issues connected with the Trade Union Bill:

Ballot thresholds in important public services

Hiring agency staff during strike action: reforming regulation

Tackling intimidation of non-striking workers

Source: Gov.UK

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