Member

Amendment 243, tabled by my noble friend Lord Hendy, would give trade unions more freedom to choose which constituencies they will ballot. Section 228 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 lays down a general principle that if voters have different workplaces then there should be separate ballots for each workplace. The purpose is to ensure that workers at one workplace where the majority of union members did not favour industrial action cannot be called out on strike purely because there was a majority in favour of action at some other large workplace. There are existing well-established exceptions, which allow aggregate ballots in certain circumstances. These are set out in Section 228A. The amendment would remove Sections 228 and 228A, thus enabling a union to conduct a ballot across separate workplaces as a matter of course. The Government do not support this approach, as it risks allowing for manipulation of constituencies to provide for the maximum chance of ballot success.