Downing Street Says

» Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Unions

Asked to comment on the piece in the Times about businesses giving unions a bigger role in public sector contracts, the PMS replied that the issue in relation to this story was that what was being published this morning was a joint statement that had been agreed by the Government, the Trade Unions, but also the CBI and third sector organisations. The right to union membership had been enshrined in law for years, and we were not suggesting any change in the position on that in the document this morning. But we were asking employers to ensure that employees were aware of all of their employment rights, as well as issues such as rights of the minimum wage, and rights to maternity leave for example.

Put that this could be presented as a payback for the unions, the PMS replied that we were not changing any law or rights that workers had in relation to the unions. This was an agreement that had been signed up to by employer organisations. The key point was that the interpretation that had been put on this by the Times this morning did not really acknowledge that this was a statement that had been jointly agreed with employer organisations as well. All the document did was point out that it was important that employees were made aware of all of their employment rights – and there was a wide range of employment rights that went far beyond the right to union membership.

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Unions

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