WIREDGOV

First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, has challenged the UK Government over its Trade Union Bill, expressing concerns over the Bill’s impact and stating that this should also be a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.

The Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in July, would introduce a range of constraints around the way trade unions work to protect their members.

Referring to the Bill in a letter to the Prime Minister, the First Minister said:

“I have grave concerns that it – and your Government’s associated proposal to remove the ban on the use of agency workers during industrial action – will prove socially divisive, lead to more confrontational relationships between employers and workers, and ultimately undermine rather than support public services and the economy.

“Either through your Government properly addressing the concerns highlighted by the trade unions, or through the strong scrutiny the Bill deserves and will doubtless receive in Parliament, there are necessary, important changes that need to be made to the proposals.”

One proposal in the Bill is an extra threshold of 40% of overall membership support being needed to take industrial action in particular public services.

In his letter, the First Minister says that three of the specific public services subject to this threshold - health services, education of those aged under 17 and fire services - are areas already devolved to Wales.

“It is clear that significant elements of the Bill relate specifically to public services which in Wales are unambiguously devolved responsibilities. I therefore do not accept the suggestion that the Bill must be regarded as concerned exclusively with non-devolved issues.

“Policy on how to support, or ‘protect’, the delivery of devolved public services such as health, education and fire is …  for the Welsh Government and the National Assembly for Wales. This includes the way public sector bodies in such devolved services work with trade unions to ensure effective delivery of services to the public.”

“Similarly, it cannot be right for the UK Government – blind to policy priorities and devolved service delivery reforms in Wales – to specify how much union ‘facility time’ devolved public sector employers should allow. Nor am I convinced that the intention to end ‘check off’ arrangements for trade union subscriptions in the public sector is necessary or appropriate. The Welsh Government operates these arrangements as part of its approach to effective social partnership and is not seeking to change this.”

The First Minister will update the Assembly in due course following further dialogue with the UK Government.