UK parliament advances bill to strengthen workers’ rights to organise and bargain

On 10 October, the UK parliament introduced the bill in the wake of growing recognition that a strong union workplace presence is good for workers and for the economy and that collective bargaining benefits productivity, industrial change, equality and employment. The bill was advanced to the committee stage at a second reading in the House of Commons on 21 October.

Key reforms include:

• The establishment of the right of unions to have access to the workplace to organise, meet and represent workers;
• The simplification of the statutory union recognition process, with reduced thresholds and automatic recognition for unions with a majority in membership;
• Protections for trade unionists who strike;
• Fairer balloting rules for union elections and decisions to take industrial actions;
• New rights, including facility time, for equality reps. 

In a statement, the TUC said:

“The bill will better equip unions to operate in modern workplaces. Workers will soon be in a far better position to defend their pay and conditions through trade unions.

Whilst many employers recognise the benefits that unions bring to their workforce and their business, others take extraordinary steps to prevent unions from even speaking to their workforce, as demonstrated by Amazon’s response to the GMBs’ recent recognition campaign. 

The bill will change this by enabling unions to enter workplaces to meet, represent, organise and recruit workers and to facilitate collective bargaining.”

David Ward, General Secretary of CWU, the union that founded the New Deal for Workers campaign, said:

“This is a positive development and the first step in rebalancing the world of work. It is embarrassing that we are seeing some sections of the media and big business attacking these proposals that will see workers gain rights that are common across the rest of Europe.

We now urge Labour to move ahead with the full implementation of these plans at pace. After decades of attacks on workers from the Tories, there can be no delay in delivering these changes nor any capitulation to the demands of big business to water-down the legislation.”

UNI Global Union and UNI Europa join the TUC and UK unions in welcoming these developments.

Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union, said:

“This bill is a bright spot for trade unionists everywhere, offering practical steps forward to lower the barriers faced by workers who want to build collective power on the job. The rules in place at the moment make it nearly impossible to win against an anti-union campaign like Amazon’s.  But this new law will be a long overdue game changer. As with every new law, the devil is in the details, but the draft under consideration holds tremendous promise. “

Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa, said:

“Collective bargaining is the foundation of trade union work, and it is only through fairer, more transparent and strong representation at work that workers can improve their situation. We welcome this bill as it will enable workers and their unions to organise for real say and more pay in their workplaces. The Employment Rights Bill also sends an important message as UNI Europa moves towards its statutory conference in Belfast in March 2025, where our focus will be on strengthening collective bargaining across Europe.”