Draft Trade Union (Deduction of Union Subscriptions from Wages in the Public Sector) Regulations 2023

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2024 General Committees

[Dame Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

It is, as ever, an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Paisley.

It is extraordinary, when there are so many other pressing issues that the Government should be tackling, that they decide to prioritise pushing ahead with this legislation, which will squeeze yet another few pennies from hard-working public servants—people who are already working their socks off in sectors such as the NHS and other frontline services, trying to meet ever greater demand with shrinking resources. They are bearing the burden of the highest taxes since the second world war, and the latest gimmick of giving back tuppence in national insurance contributions does not make up for the at least 10p in additional tax burden that this Government have taken from them. These are public servants whose wages have nowhere near kept up with inflation and who are now facing a real cost of living crisis. Make no mistake, if this cost burden is placed on trade unions, they will inevitably have to pass it on to their members. What is it that the Government have against their own workforce? They will be charging for the toilet paper next.

According to Government documentation, the overall cost to employers is some £1.5 million, which, as noted in the draft impact assessment, equates to a matter of pennies per employee. Once established, as current check-off systems are, costs are minimal—usually arising from just having to add or remove colleagues when they begin or finish their employment—but once employers have to try to disaggregate that cost and raise an invoice for a trade union, the workload is increased. The trade unions, dealing with multiple public sector employers, will have a considerable amount of additional work and additional costs.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

The TUC has expressed concern that the regulations could deny some members access to trade union services, which could infringe their rights under article 11 of the European convention on human rights, which protects freedom of assembly and association. Does my hon. Friend agree that these regulations are the latest attempt by the Government to make life more difficult for trade unions and their members?

[Dame Nia Griffith]

I agree with my hon. Friend. The guidance issued has considerable flaws. It was not even available when the regulations were debated in the other place in December. The guidance is non-statutory. That means that employers do not necessarily have to follow it and can decide for themselves what they consider to be “reasonable costs”. Even within the guidance, there seems to be no mechanism for trade unions to challenge employers’ calculations of reasonable costs. The guidance states baldly:

“If no agreement can be reached and the relevant trade unions do not agree to pay the amount, then the employer may wish to consider taking steps to stop administering Check-off”.

In other words, it is take it or leave it. There is no pathway or mechanism for trade unions to challenge the employers’ calculations of reasonable costs or their decision to terminate check-off. In other words, there is no redress, and the trade unions are put in a position where their only options are to pay what the employer demands or end check-off. What a disgraceful way to treat their loyal workers and their workers’ representatives.

It is as if the Government have completely forgotten, or are choosing to ignore, the immense benefits of having trade union recognition in the workplace. Up and down the country, in both the private and public sector, on a daily basis we see trade unions and employers sorting out a whole range of issues amicably. Time was when Conservative Members recognised the valuable role of trade unions, but now one would almost think that the Government are looking to pick a fight with the trade unions and their own hard-working public servants. The Government’s draft impact assessment suggests there may be

“some loss of goodwill with employees and trade unions”.

There may indeed, and I would not underestimate the value of goodwill in services where so often we find individuals going above and beyond to deliver a good service.

Returning to the guidance, it looks as if the employer has carte blanche to allege additional cost. The example is given of additional cost being justified in the case of what is called “late” notification being given by a trade union of a change in membership fees—whatever “late” may be. This is from a Government who talked about a 12-month period, then a six-month period, and now they want to implement these changes by 9 May, leaving barely three months to have everything worked out. This is from a Government who, in September 2022, with no notice sent the financial institutions into a spin and left people overnight with hundreds of extra pounds to pay on their mortgages or their rent.

On the matter of consultation, according to the draft explanatory memorandum, it sounds as if the consultation was simply to identify the various public bodies that would be covered by this legislation. We read:

“No public consultation was carried out as the principles of this provision were debated extensively in Parliament during the passage of the Trade Union Act in 2016.”

Furthermore, we are told:

“Trade union officials and others gave evidence during the passage of the Act and the Government listened to their comments.”

Make of that what you will, Mr Paisley, but I do not think the Government were doing much listening. To say that now there is no further need to seek advice or comment or to consult more widely is shocking.

There has been no opportunity for either the public or the main parties affected by this legislation—namely, the employees and the trade unions—to feed back on its implementation, because, the Government say, they did this seven years ago. If there had been proper consultation on the implementation, there would have been an opportunity for the trade unions to raise the issues of how an employer would determine costs and what the process for resolving a disagreement over the costs would be, rather than the situation of no redress that the Government are now trying to push through.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alex Burghart]

I thank all those who contributed to the debate. The hon. Member for Llanelli says that this is not a pressing issue, and I am inclined to agree with her, because that is why it has taken us the better part of eight years to get to this point. We put this relatively minor measure on hold while we were dealing with much larger issues.

The hon. Lady talks about it being a matter of a few pence. At £1.5 million a year, I am not sure I agree with her definition of a few pence, but if it is just a few pence, I am sure that the trade unions will be able to cover the cost, as they justly should. They all have a choice to make on whether to pass the cost on to their members, but they may wish to consider the size of their expense accounts before doing so. The main thing here is the principle that the public services should not be providing for the trade unions a service that is unremunerated. This delegated legislation will help to embed that principle.

Regarding challenges, our view is that there are existing and well established processes for resolving disputes between our public services and the trade unions which will be fit for purpose in this instance. The hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton raised a question about the ECHR. The regulations deny no one the right to join a trade union, so that issue will not arise.

I am pleased to be able to tell my former colleague on the Work and Pensions Committee, the hon. Member for Glasgow South West, that Scotland was consulted on the scope of the regulations. The Minister for the Cabinet Office wrote to relevant Ministers. This is obviously and clearly a reserved area—

[Afzal Khan]

Will the Minister give way?

[Chris Stephens]

Will the Minister give way?

[Alex Burghart]

I will give way to the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton first.

[Afzal Khan]

Can the Minister explain why the Government failed to consult the unions? The instrument clearly affects them.

[Alex Burghart]

I am pleased to be able to tell the hon. Gentleman that the trade unions were consulted as part of the work we did during the passage of the Trade Union Act 2016. To be clear: for a lot of people, direct debit is much more effective. It is often much better for trade unions, too. Going back over Hansard, I noticed that in 2016 a number of trade union websites were actively encouraging members to move to direct debit, because they thought it was a better process.