Unions threaten to call emergency conference over recognition rights

The issue of trade union recognition continued to hit the headlines in the UK in March 1998, with unions threatening to call a special conference of the Trades Union Congress to decide whether they should oppose or support legislative proposals on the issue due to announced by the Government in the next few months.

Despite publishing a joint statement in December 1997 on the issue of trade union recognition, identifying areas of both agreement and disagreement (UK9801194F), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) have since increasingly concentrated on the issues where they disagree (UK9802105N). As the reality of the Government's White Paper on "fairness at work", which will deal with the recognition issue, draws nearer both unions and employers fear that the Government will favour one side's position over the other.

Senior union leaders met with the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on 19 March 1998 to discuss their anxieties that the Government was about to compromise on its manifesto pledge to them. Before the May 1997 general election, the Labour Party made a manifesto pledge on the introduction of legislation to ensure that trade unions would be recognised where a majority of the workforce voted in favour (UK9704125F). The issue at stake now is exactly what constitutes a majority when a ballot takes place over recognition: unions believe that a majority of those voting in the ballot should be sufficient, while employers want to require a majority of all the employees concerned.

Following the meeting, the union leaders, clearly not pleased with the answers given to them by the Prime Minister, announced that if the White Paper - due in the next couple of months - fails to meet their expectations, they will seek an extraordinary conference of the TUC.

This development marks the first real threat by the unions to the Blair Government and, while the right to recognition is a point on which the unions will not want to back down, Mr Blair is just as likely to want to demonstrate that he will not be dictated to, or back down to union demands. The issue also causes a dilemma within the union movement. Two of the unions leading the call for a special conference are the Transport and General Workers Union and the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, which argue that it will be crucial for the TUC to decide as soon as possible whether it will support Labour's recognition proposals rather than wait until the next full congress in September. However, the TUC general secretary, John Monks, has stated that: "In view of the various statements made by trade union leaders ... I want to make it clear that the TUC looks forward to a White Paper on fairness at work in line with the Labour manifesto. The TUC has no plans to hold any special congress, beyond a conference already arranged for 6 May which the President of the Board of Trade is addressing."