UK academics working in the field of industrial and employment relations have expressed deep concern about the government’s Trade Union Bill 2015. The provisions outlined include plans to increase the ballot thresholds for industrial action, to criminalise picketing, to permit employers to hire strike-breaking agency staff among a whole range of measures designed to make it more difficult for unions to operate effectively in defence of their members’ interests. Over 100 leading UK academics have, today, signed a letter where they say that the rationale for the Bill is perverse. They claim that trade unions in Britain are not too strong, but too weak and their power diminished since the height of union power in the 1970s. Unions, they say, provide an important voice for the expression and protection of workers’ terms and conditions of employment and are a countervailing force against the excesses of employer power. Unions also contribute to innovation, skills-upgrading and workplace performance. Given the fact the UK labour market is already one of the most flexible and least regulated in the global economy, evidence in support of the benefits of the Bill is seriously wanting. By further undermining the collective bargaining power of unions it will, most likely, feed into the labour market by increasing endemic low-pay and insecure terms and conditions of employment among non-unionised workers. Mark Stuart, President of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association, the professional body of employment relations academics, and Professor at Leeds University Business School, said: ‘Instead of attacking trade unions in this way, the Government should be looking more seriously at how to engage and involve the British workforce and its representatives in rebuilding the UK economy and raising productivity through fairer and more supportive rights for workers’. Ralph Darlington, Professor of Employment Relations at the University of Salford, and joint author of a report entitled: ‘The Conservative Government’s Proposed Strike Ballot Thresholds: The Challenge to the Trade Unions’ has said: ‘If unions find their ability to mount strike action is curtailed, one likely prospect is an increased tactical reliance by unions on so-called ‘leverage campaigns’ and ‘citizen bargaining’ – whereby unions use demonstrations, protests, boycotts, and social media campaigns to open up new lines of attack on the employers and its senior management, with the aim of getting shareholders, customers, suppliers and local communities to put pressure on the employers to back union demands.’ Contact details Professor Mark Stuart: 07796 953896 Professor Ralph Darlington: 07967 557942 Letter to the press As academics in the field of industrial relations, we are writing to express our concern at the draconian provisions of the Trade Union Bill which amount to the most sustained attack on trade union and workers’ rights since the Combination Laws of the early 19th Century. In addition to minimum thresholds that seriously curtail the possibly of legitimate strike action, the Bill also attacks the ability of unions to represent their members (via facility time) and raise subscriptions (through employer check-off) from members, amongst a battery of other restrictive measures. The rationale for the Bill is perverse. Trade unions in Britain are not too strong, but too weak. They provide an important voice for the expression and protection of workers’ terms and conditions of employment and are a countervailing force against the excesses of employer power. They can also contribute to innovation, skills-upgrading and workplace performance. Given the fact the UK labour market is already one of the most flexible and least regulated in the global economy, evidence in support of the benefits of the Bill is seriously wanting. By further undermining the collective bargaining power of unions it will feed into the labour market by increasing endemic low-pay and insecure terms and conditions of employment among non-unionised workers. Instead, the Government should be looking more seriously at how to engage and involve the British workforce and its representatives in rebuilding the UK economy and raising productivity through fairer and more supportive rights for workers. Signed: Signed: Professor Mark Stuart, President: British Universities Industrial Relations Association, University of Leeds. Professor Ralph Darlington, Salford Business School, University of Salford. Professor Jane Holgate, Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change, Leeds University Business School. Professor Philip Taylor, Vice Dean, Strathclyde Business School. Professor Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law, Kings College London. Professor Edmund Heery, Professor of Employment Relations, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University. Professor Stephanie Tailby, Prof Employment Relations, Centre for Employment Studies Research, University of the West of England Professor Miguel Martinez Lucio, Manchester University Business School. Professor Steve Vincent, Head of Leadership, Work and Organisations, Newcastle University Business School. Dr Stephen Mustchin, Lecturer in Employment Studies University of Manchester Dr Andrew Smith, Bradford University School of Management Professor Hazel Conley ,Centre for Employment Studies Research (CESR), Faculty of Business and Law University of the West of England. Dr Daniel King, Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. Professor Sonia McKay, Visiting Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, University of the West of England. Professor Stephen Bach, Department of Management, King's College London. Professor Tony Dundon School of Business and Economics, National University if Ireland Galway. Dr Sophie Gamwell, Middlesex University. Dave Smith, TUC tutor, College of North East London. Professor Gregor Gall, Professor of Industrial Relations School of Management University of Bradford. Dr Peter Scott, Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations, University of Portsmouth Dr Ioulia Bessa, Leeds University Business School. Dr Eugene Hickland, National University of Ireland Galway. Dr Douglas Martin, University of Central Lancashire. Dr Judie Gannon Oxford Brookes University. Dr Jo McBride, Newcastle University Business School. Professor Stephen Linstead, Director of the Centre for the Study of Working Lives, The York Management School, University of York. Dr Ian Roper, Associate Professor, Middlesex University. Dr Jo Grady, University of Leicester. Dr Marco Hauptmeier, Reader in Comparative Employment Relations, Cardiff University. David Wray. Senior Visiting Research Fellow. University of Hertfordshire Business School. Dr Anna Paraskevopoulou, Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University. Dr Ian Greenwood, Leeds University Business School. Professor Melanie Simms, School of Management, University of Leicester Dr Tessa Wright, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London. Dr Steve Williams, Reader in Employment Relations, University of Portsmouth. Dr Anthony McDonnell, Reader in Management, Queen's University Belfast. Dr Zinovijus Ciupiijus, Leeds University Business School. Dr Priscilla Ross, Co-operative College. Dr Vera Trappmann, Leeds University Business School. Caroline Holmes Programme Co-ordinator BA International Labour and Trade Unions Studies, Ruskin College, Oxford. Dr Stewart Johnstone, Newcastle University. Professor Greg Bamber, Visiting Professor, Newcastle University Business School. Dr Graham Symon, Principal Lecturer in Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour, University of Greenwich. Dr Zedias Mutema, Staffordshire University. John Kimberley, Associate Professor, Birmingham City University Business School. Professor Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham. Dr Elizabeth Lawrence, Principal Lecturer in Sociology, Sheffield Hallam University. Professor Jim Arrowsmith, Associate Fellow, IRRU, University of Warwick. Dr Paul Smith, Honorary Research Fellow, Keele University. Sue Ledwith, Emerita Scholar International Labour and Trade Union Studies, Ruskin College. Professor Linda Clarke Centre for the Study of the Production of the Built Environment (ProBE) University of Westminster. Professor Ian Greer, University of Greenwich Business School. Dr Kate Hardy, Lecturer, Leeds University Business School. Dr Fernando Duran-Palma, Westminster Business School, University of Westminster. Professor Damian Grimshaw, Professor of Employment Studies, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester and Director of the European Work and Employment Research Centre. Dr Anne McBride, Senior Lecturer in Employment Studies, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. Dr Deborah Dean, Industrial Relations Research Unit, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. Professor Chris Forde, Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change, Leeds University Business School. Chris McLachlan, Postgraduate researcher, Leeds University Business School. Andy Charlwood, Professor of Human Resource Management, School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University Dr Susan Sayce, Senior Lecturer, University of East Anglia. Dr Alf Crossman, Surrey Business School, University of Surrey. Jane Lethbridge, Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), University of Greenwich. Cecilie Bingham, Principal Lecturer, Employee Relations, University of Westminster. Duncan Adam Industrial Relations Research Unit Warwick Business School Professor Phil Almond, Professor of comparative employment relations, De Montford University. Dr Andreas Kornelakis Lecturer in Human Resource Management School of Business, Management & Economics University of Sussex. Katy Huxley, Research Officer, Cardiff University. Professor Anne-marie Greene, De Montfort University. Dr.Whyeda Gill-Mclure, University of Wolverhampton Business School. Dr Scott Hurrell Lecturer in Work and Employment Studies - University of Stirling. Dr Alan Tuckman, Hon Fellow, Centre for Industrial Relations, University of Keele. Alex J. Wood Research Associate Department of Sociology University of Cambridge. Professor Gill Kirton, School of Business and Management Queen Mary University of London. Professor Tony Elger, Emeritus Professor, Sociology of Work and Employment, University of Warwick. Dr Jacqueline Sinclair School of Business, University College Dublin. Dr Aristea Koukiadaki, University of Manchester. Professor Richard Hyman Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations Editor, European Journal of Industrial Relations. Dr Mike Hemmings, Doncaster College and University Centre. Professor Michael Gold, School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London. Dr Stefania Marino, University of Manchester. Dr Nick Parsons, Cardiff University. Dr Mike Rigby, London South Bank University. Dr Andrew Perchard, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University. Professor Francis Green, Professor of Work and Education Economics, University College London. Paul Brook, Editor, Work, Employment and Society journal, University of Leicester. Emeritus Professor Doug Miller, University of Northumbria. Martin Upchurch Professor of International Employment Relations Middlesex University Business School. Professor Philip B. Whyman Director Lancashire Institute for Economic and Business Research, Lancashire Business School. Dr Steve Davies School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University. Professor Kim Hoque Warwick Business School. Professor Peter Turnbull, Professor of HRM & Labour Relations, Cardiff Business School, University of Cardiff. Dr Mick McKeown, Reader in democratic mental health, university of Central Lancashire. Zander Wedderburn Professor Emeritus, Heriot-Watt University. Chrissie Oldfield Senior Lecturer Employment Relations London South Bank University. Professor Geoffrey Wood, Dean of Essex Business School, University of Essex. Prof John Kelly, Birkbeck, University of London. Dr Peter Prowse Senior Lecturer in HRM and Employment Relations Bradford University School of Management. Dr Susan Milner, University of Bath. Dr Ed Blissett, Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations, University of Hertfordshire. Professor Michael Doherty, Department of Law, Maynooth University, Ireland. Dr Jonathan Lord Lecturer in HRM BA(Hons), MSc, PhD, CFCIPD, FHEA Director of Employability International Strategy, People Management and Salford Law Unit. Roger Seifert Professor of Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations Management Research Centre Wolverhampton Business School. Sian Moore Professor of Work and Employment Relations Co-Director, Centre for Employment Studies Research (CESR) Bristol Business School University of the West of England. Dennis Nickson Professor of Service Work and Employment Academic Fellow, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (Academic FCIPD) Editor-in-Chief, Employee Relations Department of Human Resource Management, University of Strathclyde. Dr Maria Koumenta, Business School, Queen Mary, University of London. Christine Edwards, Professor Emeritus Department of Management, Kingston University Dr. Steve French, Keele Management School, Keele University. |