TUC leader Paul Nowak predicts wave of private-sector union recognition deals

The TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, has predicted a wave of union recognition deals in the private sector over the next year, as new rules on union access to workplaces come into force.

From Friday, under Labour's Employment Rights Act, unions will have the right to enter workplaces or communicate with staff electronically. From January, employers will be obliged to inform workers of their right to join a union.

Nowak called the change potentially "transformative", saying it could open up large parts of the private sector where unions have been trying to get a foothold but have been hampered by the legal framework.

"My prediction would be that by this time next year, we'll have signed hundreds, if not thousands of new recognition agreements with employers, taking that union voice into the private sector in particular," he said.

Polling and early deals

Polling carried out for the TUC by YouGov suggests 62% of workers would support a trade union negotiating on their behalf on pay and conditions, while 36% of those who are not union members say they would not know how to join one.

Nowak pointed to a flurry of recent agreements, citing deals between John Lewis and Usdaw and between the GMB and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency as evidence that some employers are responding even before the rules take effect.

"What we're seeing is a whole range of employers, who have recognised that the legislation is changing, that the political climate is changed and are now reaching voluntary agreements with unions," he said.

Falling membership

Just over a fifth of the UK's workforce are trade union members, down from more than half in 1979, before Margaret Thatcher came to power.

Under the new rules, there will be a formal process to request access to a workplace if a union cannot agree with an employer, overseen by the regulator, the Central Arbitration Committee. Previously, unions trying to win the right to represent a workforce sometimes had to do so from outside the building, as was the case with the GMB's thwarted effort to win recognition at Amazon's warehouse near Coventry two years ago.

Nowak said Labour's approach "changes the mood" and brings the UK more into the European mainstream, in which unions are "part and parcel of the workplace".

The access rights are the latest element of the government's upgrade to workers' rights to be implemented. Rights to sick pay have already been extended, and further changes, including restrictions on zero-hours contracts, are yet to come into force.

Some employers have complained about the potential costs of the new regime, but Nowak insisted good bosses need not worry. "Genuinely, employers have got nothing to fear from this," he said. "They shouldn't see their staff wanting an independent voice as somehow a negative verdict on them."

Source: The Guardian Business.