29 January 2016

Lord Balfe today proposed amendments to the Trade Union Bill to permit trade unions to use electronic voting systems in strike ballots and to retain the check-off practice in the public sector.

The Tory peer is President of the British Dietetic Association and an advisor to the British Airline Pilots Association: both TUC-affiliated trade unions.

During the second reading of the Bill in the House of Lords on 11 January 2016, Lord Balfe expressed his support for some of the arguments arising from the opposite bench, including that trade unions should be permitted to use modern voting systems rather than relying on inconvenient postal ballots that make it difficult to secure a high turnout.

This is particularly important at a time when the government is legislating in the same Bill to make invalid any strike ballot that achieves less than a 50% turnout.

"If e-balloting is okay for selecting the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, the ruling body of the Royal Statistical Society, of which I am a fellow, and the board of directors of a venture capital trust that I am investing in, I do not see that we can rule it out," he said. "We cannot just write it off."

The government has so far steadfastly refused to reconsider their ban on electronic voting for trade unions, but the support for such a reform from one of their own peers could put pressure on the Conservative Party to relent.

Lord Balfe also amended Clause 14, which prohibits public sector employers from using the check-off system of deducting trade union subscriptions from the wages of workers who wish to be unionised. The peer proposes that this practice should stay in place so long as trade unions cover the administration fees involved.

However, while a welcome compromise for unions, Lord Balfe's proposals are not an ideal solution. The peer has also proposed that the trade union regulator – the Certification Officer (CO) – be given the authority to police unions' use of e-balloting and check-off.

The CO is currently a respected figure among both workers' and employers' associations, but the Trade Union Bill legislates to sway the balance of power in such a way that the regulator become judge, jury and executor. Under Tory proposals, the CO will be able to investigate unions even if no complaints are made against them, fine them for anything judged by the CO to be a breach, and then charged for the process! The IER argues that Lord Balfe's placing of the CO at the heart of industrial relations could remove the possibility of unions resisting these new powers.

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