Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to clause 234E(1)(b) of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, if she will outline what reasonable steps she would expect a trade union to take in order to ensure that all members of the union who are identified in the work notice comply with that notice; and whether this instruction is compatible with (a) trade union governance structures and (b) the requirements of the Certification Officer.

The certification officer is responsible for regulating trade union finance and governance but has no locus in relation to industrial action.

There are a range of steps that trade unions could take, and what is considered reasonable will depend on each specific situation. However, a trade union should not call a union member identified in a work notice as required to work on a particular day out on strike that day. The trade union could also encourage those individual members to comply with the work notice and make it clear in their general communication with members that where members are named in a work notice, and therefore required to work on a particular day, they should attend work on that strike day.