Is Cameron serious about trade union reform?

Was it a shot across the bows, a deft bit of spin or the start of a campaign to build support for a change in the law?

That was the question I've been asking myself since David Cameron declared yesterday that he was seriously considering the case for tougher trade union laws - in particular a new participation threshold for any strike ballot. In Prime Ministers Questions yesterday the PM said:

"I know there is a strong case being made, not least by my colleague the Mayor of London, for this sort of change. I am very happy to look at the arguments for it because I want to ensure we have a fair body of union law in this country.
 
"I think the laws put in place in the 1980s are working well. We don't currently have proposals to amend them but I am very happy to look at this argument because I don't want to see a wave of irresponsible strikes, not least where they are not supported by the majority taking part.''

Boris Johnson has proposed that any ballot in which fewer than half of those eligible to vote bother to do so should be ruled invalid. He has London's tube drivers in his sights. They have gone on strike more under his mayorship than under Ken Livingstone.

He fears that in the lead up to the Boris v Ken re-match next April the unions may be inclined to strike even more. Many - but not all - of the strikes on the Underground have had a lower than 50% participation rate. So, Boris wants a new law to help him and to help London avoid the only other alternatives - buying off the unions or outright confrontation with them.

The CBI has proposed a different way forward - a threshold for triggering a strike set at 40% of the unionised workforce voting in favour. John Cridland, the CBI's deputy director general, has said that:

"When a legitimate strike threatens to disrupt the services on which the public depends, it is only right that it should require a higher bar of support."

They also say union members should hear both sides of the argument before voting in a strike ballot with both employers and unions allowed to send short statements with the ballot papers.

The problem with these new ballot thresholds is that unions will ask "why should they apply to us and not to politicians?" Boris Johnson would not be mayor, there would be no London Assembly members and the Labour MP John McDonnell has calculated that just 38 MPs would have been able to take up their seats.

An alternative route would be for the government to ban Transport workers, firefighters, NHS staff and even employees of the gas and water industries from striking - an idea which Conservative and former shadow home secretary David Davis has backed. Imagine, though, what the courts would make of that if it were challenged under the Human Rights Act.

Back to my initial question, though - is David Cameron serious about any of this? There's no doubt that his statement yesterday and his joint article with Boris Johnson in The Sun were seen as an ideal way to distract from the bankers - who may prove to be the coalition's Achilles heel - and focus instead on the unions, which they hope will be Labour's. It was also intended as a direct message to union members who they hope will restrain their leaders.

Finally, however, I am told by several well placed sources that the prime minister wants to toughen the law but believes he must follow rather than lead public opinion which he believes will not long tolerate strikes which cause them real inconvenience.

Tonight's meeting of the London Fire Authority will offer an interesting point to the way ahead. After a six year dispute over shift patterns the Tory run authority is threatening to sack over 5,000 firefighters and to offer to re-hire them on new terms and conditions. Some see this dispute as evidence of over mighty trade unions, others as an example of bullying employers. Were the authority to go ahead it might provide the Tories with a model of how to handle other disputes - such as those on the Underground.

PS Looking forward to the battle of their Lordships’ sleeping bags - James Landale has more on an upcoming battle over the voting reform referendum here.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/01/is_cameron_serious_about_trade_union_reform.html

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