{UAH} Corbyn pledges to scrap Blair union laws

Corbyn pledges to scrap Blair union laws in favour of collective bargaining

String of corporate governance scandals prompts Labour leader to press
for laws forcing large companies to recognise specific unions to
negotiate with

Jeremy Corbyn addresses a Labour leadership campaign rally in Hull.
Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Daniel Boffey Policy editor

Saturday 30 July 2016

Jeremy Corbyn would require companies with more than 250 employees to
accept new industrial laws under which they would have to recognise a
specific union with which to bargain over pay.

Aides to the Labour leader said a Corbyn government would "repeal"
1999 union legislation that was passed by a Labour government to
introduce a new French-style framework of union rights.

More on this topicStrengthening workers' rights should be Labour's
priority | Jeremy Corbyn

Writing in the Observer, Corbyn said change was made urgent by the
corporate governance scandals involving Mike Ashley at Sports Direct
and Philip Green at BHS, and the row over the decision by the Byron
hamburger chain to help immigration officials arrest 35 of its staff
who were working illegally in the country. "Even Theresa May
understands she has to pay lip service to change in the workplace and
the boardroom ...," writes Corbyn.

"But the best way to guarantee fair pay is through strengthening
unions' ability to bargain collectively – giving employees the right
to organise through a union and negotiate their pay, terms and
conditions at work," he writes.

"That's why it should be mandatory for all large employers, with over
250 staff, to bargain collectively with recognised trade unions."

Currently a union seeking recognition must show that 10% of employees
are members and 50% want them to lead on pay bargaining. If that is
not the case, a secret ballot is held and union recognition requires a
majority of those voting and at least 40% of those eligible to vote to
support recognition.

Corbyn also proposes that all employees be given guaranteed hours
which must be specified and written into a contract – bringing an end
to zero-hour contracts. If an employer wants workers to work beyond
those hours, they must specify the length of additional work along
with a reason for asking.

An employer will also have to give reasonable compensation, akin to an
"on-call" payment to an employee, for agreeing to make themselves
available for additional work, whether they are ultimately asked to do
so or not.

"Economic failure is a central reason why people are no longer
prepared to accept politics as usual, across the advanced industrial
world," Corbyn writes.

"It's one of the reasons I was elected Labour leader in a landslide 10
months ago – and why there can be no going back to a broken economic
model or the politics of the past."

Meanwhile, the Labour leader yesterday spoke at a rally in Hull where
he was accused by Karl Turner, Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East,
of "bottling" an opportunity to debate with Owen Smith. The claim came
after it emerged that the Labour party had agreed for Corbyn and Smith
to meet at their first hustings at an event organised for Monday
evening by Channel 4 News. But on Thursday, the Observer understands,
Corbyn's campaign said the Labour leader would not be available.

Turner told the Observer: "He's good to speak to a crowd of people –
well done, Jeremy – but what people need to see in the Labour party
are hustings involving the two candidates. It needs to be a fair
contest and members need to see the two candidates and currently
Jeremy is bottling it."

A source close to the Labour leader said the MP for Islington North
would attend the official hustings arranged by the Labour party's
national executive committee, but that they withheld the right to
reject additional events proposed by media organisations, even if
Labour HQ had agreed to them.

The source said that Corbyn was in Liverpool on Monday night but that
he also had the right to turn down hustings if he felt that the media
organisation sponsoring it was hostile to his leadership. He added
that it was not up to Labour party officials to dictate which media
hustings the leader attended.

He said: "The exact role of the Labour party organisation in how they
have played it since the coup has been a controversial one."

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