The government has announced that it will not continue with its plans to ban union members in the public sector from paying their subs by deductions from their wages. Instead check-off (also known as DOCAS) can continue where unions pay the costs incurred by employers. This follows the three defeats over the bill the government suffered in the Lords.
Commenting on the climb down general secretary Dave Prentis said “There’s much that’s wrong with the trade union bill, but banning unions from using the check-off system to collect membership fees from employees in the public sector was among the most mean-spirited of all its proposals.
“But thanks to a good deal of union campaigning behind the scenes, UNISON and the TUC have built an effective coalition in the Lords that persuaded the government a ban would be both unjustified and unnecessary.”
Regional secretary Glyn Hawker also welcomed the government’s decision: “Now we can concentrate on campaigning to protect public sector employees at work and the services they deliver, safe in the knowledge that we will not have to spend the next year running around workplaces with direct debit forms.
“Employers and unions across the public sector will have breathed a collective sigh of relief at today’s news that there has been a sensible change of heart in Westminster. And there’s no cost to the public purse as a result of this decision.
“We now need to keep up the pressure so that the Lord’s amendments on electronic ballots, facility time and political funds are not overturned when the bill returns to the House of Commons.”
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