New legislative proposals

The government’s draft legislative programme set out in the Queen’s Speech last month includes the repeal of the problematic statutory dispute resolution procedures, and the implementation of alternatives resulting from the Gibbons review (see Labour Research, June and August 2007).

This will form part of the Employment Simplification Bill, which will also amend existing union laws so that unions can expel members on grounds of their membership of a political party. Earlier this year, in the case of ASLEF v Lee, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that UK law preventing rail union ASLEF from expelling a member of the British National Party was a breach of its freedom of association under Article 11 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (see April’s Labour Research).

Other planned elements of the Bill are better enforcement of the National Minimum Wage and employment agency standards, and possibly clarification of the National Minimum Wage Act’s provisions relating to voluntary workers.