Amendment Paper as at
Wednesday 31st March 1999

CONSIDERATION OF BILL

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EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BILL, AS AMENDED

   

Mr Secretary Byers

59

Page     14     [Clause     28],     leave out from beginning of line 10 to end of line 40 on page 15 and insert—

    '. Schedule (Employment Agencies) shall have effect.'.

   

Mr William Hague
Mr Peter Lilley [R]
Mr James Arbuthnot
Mr Tim Boswell [R]
Mr Ian Bruce [R]

1

Page     14     [Clause     28],     leave out lines 12 to 21.

   

Mr Tim Boswell [R]
Mr Ian Bruce [R]

36

Page     14,     line     21     [Clause     28],     at end insert—

'(ed) regulating the conduct of hirers in paying appropriate fees to such agencies and businesses for supplying workers for permanent or temporary employment.'.

   

Mr William Hague
Mr Peter Lilley [R]
Mr James Arbuthnot
Mr Tim Boswell [R]
Mr Ian Bruce [R]

2

Page     14,     line     21     [Clause     28],     at end insert—

    'Provided that regulations under this section shall only be made with the purpose of protecting employees' rights and not otherwise to interfere with the commercial relationship between such agencies or businesses and employers'.

   

Mr Tim Boswell [R]
Mr Ian Bruce [R]

35

Page     14,     line     21     [Clause     28],     at end insert—

    'Provided that regulations under this section shall only be made in such a way as to avoid prejudice to the ability of the private recruitment industry to continue to expand its role in the labour market.'.

   

Mr William Hague
Mr Peter Lilley [R]
Mr James Arbuthnot
Mr Tim Boswell [R]
Mr Ian Bruce [R]

3

Page     14,     line     43     [Clause     28], leave out from beginning to end of line 5 on page 15.

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Mr William Hague
Mr Peter Lilley [R]
Mr James Arbuthnot
Mr John Redwood [R]
Mr Tim Boswell [R]
Mr Christopher Chope [R]

34

Page     15,     line     38     [Clause     28],     at end insert—

    '(6A) In section 12—

(a) in subsection (5), at the beginning insert "Subject to subsection (6) below,";

(b) after subsection (5) insert—

    "(6) Regulations under section 5 shall not be made unless a draft of them has been laid before, and approved by Resolution of, each House of Parliament.".'.

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NEW SCHEDULES

   

Mr Secretary Byers

NS1

To move the following Schedule:—

'Ballots and notices

Introduction

    1. The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 shall be amended as provided by this Schedule.

Support of ballot

    2.—(1) Section 226 (requirement of ballot before action by trade union) shall be amended as follows.

    (2) In subsection (2) (industrial action to be regarded as having support of ballot only if certain conditions are fulfilled) in paragraph (a)(ii) for "231A" substitute "231", omit the word "and" at the end of paragraph (b), and after paragraph (b) insert—

"(bb) section 232A does not prevent the industrial action from being regarded as having the support of the ballot; and".

    (3) After subsection (3) insert—

    "(3A) If the requirements of section 231A fall to be satisfied in relation to an employer, as respects that employer industrial action shall not be regarded as having the support of a ballot unless those requirements are satisfied in relation to that employer."

Documents for employers

    3.—(1) Section 226A (notice of ballot and sample voting paper for employers) shall be amended as follows.

    (2) In subsection (2)(c) (notice of ballot must describe employees entitled to vote) for "describing (so that he can readily ascertain them) the employees of the employer" substitute "containing such information in the union's possession as would help the employer to make plans and bring information to the attention of those of his employees".

    (3) After subsection (3) insert—

    "(3A) These rules apply for the purposes of paragraph (c) of subsection (2)—
(a) if the union possesses information as to the number, category or work-place of the employees concerned, a notice must contain that information (at least);
(b) if a notice does not name any employees, that fact shall not be a ground for holding that it does not comply with paragraph (c) of subsection (2).

    (3B) In subsection (3) references to employees are to employees of the employer concerned."

Entitlement to vote

    4. In section 227 (entitlement to vote in ballot) subsection (2) (position where member is denied entitlement to vote) shall be omitted.

Voting paper

    5.—(1) Section 229 (voting paper) shall be amended as follows.

    (2) After subsection (2) (voting paper must ask whether voter is prepared to take part in a strike or industrial action short of a strike) insert—

    "(2A) For the purposes of subsection (2) an overtime ban and a call-out ban constitute industrial action short of a strike."

    (3) At the end of the statement in subsection (4) (statement that industrial action may be a breach of employment contract to be set out on every voting paper) insert—

    "However, if you are dismissed for taking part in strike or other industrial action which is called officially and is otherwise lawful, the dismissal will be unfair if it takes place fewer than eight weeks after you started taking part in the action, and may be unfair if it takes place later."

Inducement

    6. After section 232 insert—

"Inducement of member denied entitlement to vote.

232A. Industrial action shall not be regarded as having the support of a ballot if the following conditions apply in the case of any person— (a) he was a member of the trade union at the time when the ballot was held, (b) it was reasonable at that time for the trade union to believe he would be induced to take part or, as the case may be, to continue to take part in the industrial action, (c) he was not accorded entitlement to vote in the ballot, and (d) he was induced by the trade union to take part or, as the case may be, to continue to take part in the industrial action."

Disregard of certain failures

    7. After section 232A there shall be inserted—

"Small accidental failures to be disregarded.

232B.—(1) If— (a) in relation to a ballot there is a failure (or there are failures) to comply with a provision mentioned in subsection (2) or with more than one of those provisions, and (b) the failure is accidental and on a scale which is unlikely to affect the result of the ballot or, as the case may be, the failures are accidental and taken together are on a scale which is unlikely to affect the result of the ballot,     the failure (or failures) shall be disregarded.     (2) The provisions are section 227(1), section 230(2) and section 230(2A)."

Period of ballot's effectiveness

    8. In section 234 (period after which ballot ceases to be effective) for subsection (1) there shall be substituted—

    "(1) Subject to the following provisions, a ballot ceases to be effective for the purposes of section 233(3)(b) in relation to industrial action by members of a trade union at the end of the period, beginning with the date of the ballot—
(a) of four weeks, or
(b) of such longer duration not exceeding eight weeks as is agreed between the union and the members' employer."

Notice of industrial action

    9.—(1) Section 234A (notice to employers of industrial action) shall be amended as follows.

    (2) In subsection (3)(a) (notice relating to industrial action must describe employees intended to take part in industrial action) for "describes (so that he can readily ascertain them) the employees of the employer who" substitute "contains such information in the union's possession as would help the employer to make plans and bring information to the attention of those of his employees whom".

    (3) After subsection (5) insert—

    "(5A) These rules apply for the purposes of paragraph (a) of subsection (3)—
(a) if the union possesses information as to the number, category or work-place of the employees concerned, a notice must contain that information (at least);
(b) if a notice does not name any employees, that fact shall not be a ground for holding that it does not comply with paragraph (a) of subsection (3)."

    (4) In subsection (7)—

(a) insert at the beginning the words "Subject to subsections (7A) and (7B),", and

(b) in paragraph (a) the words "otherwise than to enable the union to comply with a court order or an undertaking given to a court" shall cease to have effect.

    (5) After subsection (7) insert—

    "(7A) Subsection (7) shall not apply where industrial action ceases to be authorised or endorsed in order to enable the union to comply with a court order or an undertaking given to a court.

    (7B) Subsection (7) shall not apply where—

(a) a union agrees with an employer, before industrial action ceases to be authorised or endorsed, that it will cease to be authorised or endorsed with effect from a date specified in the agreement ("the suspension date") and that it may again be authorised or endorsed with effect from a date not earlier than a date specified in the agreement ("the resumption date"),
(b) the action ceases to be authorised or endorsed with effect from the suspension date, and
(c) the action is again authorised or endorsed with effect from a date which is not earlier than the resumption date or such later date as may be agreed between the union and the employer."

    (6) In subsection (9) for "subsection (7)" substitute "subsections (7) to (7B)". '.

Prepared 31 Mar 1999