What is the response of the Cabinet Secretary to the UK Government's 8-week consultation, 'Tackling intimidation of non-striking workers', which found evidence of people being intimidated by individuals on picket lines, as well as use of social media to intimidate workers who have chosen not to strike?
I align myself with the bulk of evidence submitted to the consultation in which more than half of respondents had not experienced or observed any intimidation and police forces said existing laws were adequate; 86% did not support the creation of a new criminal offence; 80% did not support the addition of any additional provisions to the Trade Union Bill to govern picketing and only 14% offered any support for the UK Government’s proposal to require unions to publish their plans for industrial action. Seventy-eight per cent did not support the plan for annual reporting of picketing and only 25% supported the need to update the Code of Practice on Picketing.
The leading civil liberties groups – Liberty, Amnesty International and the British Institute of Human Rights – issued a joint statement at the time of the consultation, which said: “The government's plans to significantly restrict trade union rights – set out in the Trade Union Bill – represent a major attack on civil liberties in the UK.
“Taken together the unprecedented measures in the Bill would hamper people’s basic rights to protest and shift even more power from the employee to the employer. It is hard to see the aim of this Bill as anything but seeking to undermine the rights of all working people. ”
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