National Association Of Teachers In Further And Higher Education And Trade Union Law

EDM number 740 in 1993-94, proposed by Tony Lloyd on 03/03/1994.

That this House notes with grave concern the recent judgement where it was held that the ballot conducted by the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in favour of industrial action was held to be unlawful under the terms of the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 because the union failed to pass on in advance to individual colleges as employers the names of employees to be balloted; notes that this judgement runs counter to the assurances of Government Ministers in both Houses to opposition Members that it would be rare that a union would have to name its members; records that the Judge concluded 'not without a degree of unease' that it will be rare when a union will not have to name each of its members when taking industrial action; believes that in practice this makes it well nigh impossible for unions to conduct ballots that remain lawful and this is a totally unreasonable burden to place upon trade unionists as it effectively removes the right of workers to take legal industrial action in conflict with human rights in a democracy; and calls on the Secretary of State for Employment to clarify the situation by making a statement as to whether the law as it stands in the light of this judgement is what the Government intended or if not to amend the relevant sections of the Act as a matter of urgency.

This motion has been signed by a total of 63 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.