Member

It also is an offence, of course, against freedom of association and freedom of conscience, and that has been established over many years. With this, we get into the issue of compelled speech and the rights of association. I am not saying it is common or universal, but my noble friend Lord Sharpe alluded to examples of bullying and abuse by union officials. With the closed shop, you have a much more restrictive and exclusionary regime in the workforce, which means that those union officials are going to be less responsive if they know everyone has to be a member and people do not have a free choice to join—or not join—a union.