Member

Amendment 216 seeks to retain a critical safeguard in our statutory recognition scheme: namely, that a particular percentage of the workers in the proposed bargaining unit must support trade union recognition in a ballot in addition to a simple majority of those voting. The Government’s current proposal, through paragraphs 18(3) and (4) of this schedule, seeks to remove the 40% threshold, effectively replacing it with a lower bar: that only a majority of votes cast, regardless of turnout, would suffice for recognition. This threshold ensures that the imposition of collective bargaining rights is based on clear and broad support from the entire workforce, not just a motivated minority. It ensures that workers who are silent are not presumed to support recognition. In any democratic process, we have to distinguish between legitimate majority support and outcomes shaped by apathy, misinformation or disengagement.