Lord Monks amends Trade Union Bill to remove dangerous statutory instrument

19 January 2016

Lord Monks has proposed an amendment to the Trade Union Bill to remove a dangerous statutory instrument, which would allow the Secretary of State to treat any organisation or worker funded wholly or partly from public funds and that performs functions that could be considered to be “of a public nature” to be treated as a “public service” with the regard to the Bill’s restrictions on the check-off system.

This statutory instrument would mean that Ministers could force through changes to the way that trade unions collect their subs from private industries, such as rail and utilities, even if both employees and employers in these industries are happy with the check-off system.

Lord Monks’ amendment comes as Labour attempts to annul a statutory instrument that the Tories used to slip the removal of maintenance grants from half a million of the poorest students in England through the back door without debate in the Commons.

Instead of being debated, the decision to remove this student funding was passed through the Delegated Legislation Committee – a body that does not have the power to vote down any proposals, so they automatically become law.

See Lord Monks’ speech during the Second Reading of the Trade Union Bill here.