Councils against Trade Union Bill


Employers delivering public services across the country are joining unions in condemning the Conservative government’s Trade Union Bill, the UNISON website reports.


Caerphilly council became the first authority in Wales to officially oppose the bill.


A motion put forward by Labour councillors, including council leader Keith Reynolds, attacked the “counterproductive, vindictive, socially divisive bill”, that is “driven by Conservative ideology”, as an “attack on democracy”. 


The motion was unanimously passed by the full council on 29 September.


Gateshead and Sunderland councils in the north east of England have also condemned the bill, while Renfrewshire council in Scotland has that declared it will not “use agency staff to break or weaken industrial action” and will “defend and support” check-off and facility time for union reps.


In Yorkshire, Wakefield council has called on the government to rethink its “unnecessary attack on workers’ rights and civil liberties”, and Leeds council leader Judith Blake promised to work with unions to campaign against the bill, adding that plans to prevent public-sector employers deducting union subs from wages would be “unnecessary and petty”.


www.caerphillyobserver.co.uk/news/953655/caerphilly-council-first-in-wales-to-oppose-vindictive-trade-union-bill


https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2015/09/tubill