4. Trade unions and industrial action

Part 4 of the Employment Rights Bill deals with amendments to laws relating to trade unions and industrial action, which are regulated by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act (TULRCA). The proposed changes are wide in scope, from relaxing criteria for union recognition and requiring union facilities to repealing some of the restrictive anti-industrial action legislation and provisions. They are detailed below.

The bill includes significant improvements to trade union law, including protection from detriment for taking part in industrial action and removal of the “protected period” that limits strikers’ protection from unfair dismissal to a 12-week period. But there is a lot which will not change. The ban on solidarity (“secondary”) action will remain in place, along with most of the complicated steps a trade union must go through before members can take industrial action.

Right to a written statement

A new section 136A would be added to TULRCA to require an employer to give a worker a written statement that they have the right to join a trade union. This statement would be along the lines of the statement of written employment particulars that an employer is already required to give under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 96) and which sets out terms and conditions of employment. The section 136A statement would have to be given at the same time as the section 1 statement and at any other time that may be specified.