one example of the kind of event which will be commonplace when the Tories' Employment Bill becomes law. has emerged from its committee stage in the House of Commons with even more restrictions on trade union rights than union rights to engage in effective industrial action against an employer, the Bill contains a number of proposals which will strengthen the hand of the employers in disciplining the labour Outlined here are the main proposals in the Bill.
At present all peaceful picketing in connection with an industrial dispute is lawful. It may take place anywhere, except near a person's home, and there are no restrictions on who can PICkeL.
Under the terms of the Employment Bill, lawful picketing will be restricted to:
* Workers picketing at or near their own LaCC OL. WUrA * Trade union officials who are picketing at or near their own place of work;
* Workers sacked dispute, who are picketing their former place of work.
No other picketing will be lawful. Secondary picketing, or picketing by supporters of strikes — like the Grunwick or Chix pickets — will not be lawful. Many forms of boycotting, ('blacking') will be made illegal, as will the advocacy of boycotting by pathisers of strikers.
The rôle of the arbitration body ACAS and statutory procedures determine union recognition will be abolished. it wil be left to the workers and the emolovers to slug it out. But because of the limitations on picketing and boycotting it will be much more difficult to win union recognition struggles.
The main provision in the Bill on the closed shop is that workers can opt out of the closed shop, or get reinstatement or compensation if of a trade DONT USE THIS 'outsiders' or sym- SHOP such as ballots to they are sacked for not joining a closed shop, if they 'genuinely' object to trade unions on the ground of 'deeply held personal convictions'.
At the moment the only legitimate way to opt out of a closed shop arrangement is on religious grounds. The new provisions will amount to an open scabs charter, allowing inDONT USE THIS disrupt closed shops.
enforceable.
SHOP GAUNWICK SIRE COMMITTEN DON'T dividual reactionaries to begin to opt out of and New closed shop arrangements will have to have over 80 per cent of the workers voting in favour to be 'approved' — that is, to make it to win reinstatement!
union activity DONT unreasonable conduct.
HEM SI HE UNK maternity ticable for them to do so.
tions.
siderably tightened up.
can be a member, union ballots.
the Labour plus pop. Recall the Defend Our Unions ON 23 June last year 1,100 trades union delegates met in Manchester to plan a campaign against the Tories' Employment Bill. The conference adopted the Defend Our Unions 'Code of Practice', which has been widely discussed inside Last month the annual conference of the National Union of Public Employees unanimously adopted the Code of Practice. Yet despite the adoption of the code by many organisations, virtually nothing has been heard of future action from the Defend Our No plans for a recall or for any other co-ordinated action have been announced. This is a foolish waste of a tremendous opportunity for stoking up the campaign against the Employment Bill, which is at the centre of the government's attack on the unions.
It now seems certain that the strengthened Bill will become law in July. The Defend Our Unions conference last June voted for a recall conference when the Bill became law. There are no signs of But there is a vital need for trades unionists to come together to map out a plan of campaign for defeating the implementation of Even if the Employment Bill becomes law, there is no reason for complacency. It is difficult to believe that John Deason and the other organisers of Defend Our Unions believe that we should sit back and wait for a Labour government to repeal the anti-union Brixton rally to calling out the 90 members at the Brixton ofquite possible that a meeting union's national disputes com- union mittee last week, the leadership may decide to refer the case to appeals the rather than sanction all-out acPhil Corddell made it clear in his speech at the rally that the members in Brixton, While they needed proof from the strike official support were prepared to take a cut in their strike pay as the action They came out for NEC three days when the dismissal organise was first announced With 40,000 jobs already lost in the Civil Service through terence waslage, and 40,000 being chopped at the The Tories are now of the need to axe dismissal, industrial tribunals will have to take into account the size and resources of a company in deciding whether dismissal is unfair. In other words, small firms are given a free hand compensation have been wrongly especially with small firms, they could get nothing at all.
Tribunals will be able to reduce compensa.
basis of the employee's conduct after dismissal. This means that workers dismissed unfairly could have their compensation reduced if the tribunal takes a poor view of their trade union activity in trying Employers will be able to argue that trade dismissal Under the provisions of the Bill, maternity rights for women are seriously restricted. Small firms with five workers or less will be under no obligation to re-employ a woman who takes leave if it is not 'reasonably pracAll employers will be able to refuse to give a woman her job back if it is not reasonably practicable' to do so and she 'unreasonably' refuses suitable alternative employment. This alternative job can be anything, as long as the terms and conditions are not 'substantially less favourable' than her previous terms and condiThe conditions of notification of maternity leave and intention to return to work are conThese are just some of the provisions of the Employment Bill. It also contains provisions on trade union membership, taking it out of the hands of the unions themselves to decide who and on public funds for For the full details of the Bill send for a copy of 'The Tory Employment Bill' published Research Department, Blackfriars Rd, London SEI 8HF. Price 35p
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