Cheshire West and Chester’s new Labour administration believes the Government should scrap the controversial Trade Union Bill.
The measure includes proposals relating to industrial action and trade unions among other aspects.
Workforce chief in the council’s Cabinet Paul Donovan (Lab, Sutton), a Unite member, backed by Whitby councillor Karen Shore (Lab), an NUT member, have submitted a motion to a full meeting of the borough council taking place on Thursday, December 10.
They are asking the council to agree that: “As a major employer in the local area, this council welcomes the positive benefits that arise from the relationship that we have with recognised trade unions and believes that the relationship between employers and their employees through their collective representatives would be damaged by reducing facility time for elected representatives and by removing the ability of union members to pay union dues direct from wages.”
Attack of rights of workers
They feel the Bill ‘far from assisting employer-employee relations or improving workplace democracy is an attack on the fundamental rights and freedoms of workers to organise and associate’.
The councillors are looking to the council to call on the Government to ‘scrap the Trade Union Bill and all associated regulation/secondary legislation’ and to write to the secretary of state for business innovation and skills ‘to inform the Government of our position on behalf of a large proportion of our employees’.
They also argue the council should commit to promoting ‘the positive role that trade unions bring to society’.
The Bill is due to be debated in the Commons on January 11.
