date: 4 December 2003 embargo: 00.01hrs Friday 5 December 2003

Attention: industrial and political correspondents, union journals

Six million workers denied a voice at work

Three years after the majority of UK workers won the right to be represented by a union, six million employees in small firms are still being denied a voice at work, says a report from the TUC out today (Friday).

‘The next step: Trade union recognition in small enterprises’ - produced by the TUC and four of its member unions, Amicus, GPMU, KFAT and Unifi - says that nowhere else in Europe is there a similar bar to unions wanting to recruit and represent people in businesses with 21 or less employees. Current UK union recognition law is ‘arbitrary, discriminatory, irrational, inconsistent with international law and out of step with other countries’, say the report’s authors.

Although unions have no legal right to recognition in small companies, it is often workers in this sector who are in need of the most protection. With low union membership and recognition levels smaller enterprises usually have lower rates of pay, bigger gender pay gaps, and poorer health and safety records than larger companies which recognise unions.

Despite evidence suggesting that small employers stand to gain a great deal from working with unions, the Employment Relations Bill published earlier this week contained no proposals to extend union recognition laws to cover workplaces employing 21 people or less.

The TUC report says there are 5.4 million employees currently working for establishments with less than 19 staff. Over a fifth (21.8 per cent) of the UK workforce is employed in the small firms sector, and female workers are more likely than men to be denied a voice by the small firms exemption, as almost a third of UK women employees (compared to just over a quarter of men, 26 per cent) work here.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Once again UK workers find themselves getting a raw deal compared to workers in the rest of Europe. As a result of the changes in recognition law three years ago, thousands of UK workers in medium-sized and large firms now have a union to speak for them at work. There is no logical reason to continue to deny the same rights to six million others just because they work for small employers.

'The Government has paid too much attention to the irrational fears of the small business lobby. In practice, many small employers have good union relationships, and as a result have better personnel procedures, better trained workforces, safer workplaces and are less likely to face employment tribunals.'

‘The next step: Trade union recognition in small enterprises’ is calling on the UK Government to:

• Bring the UK into line with employment laws in Europe and remove the small firms exemption from union recognition laws.

• Advertise the benefits of partnership working to small employers through the Small Business Service, by conducting research to compare the performance of firms in the sector which do and which don’t recognise unions.

Notes to Editors:

Elsewhere in Europe, workers in small businesses have the right to union representation. In Sweden one employee is enough for a union to be granted negotiation rights, and in the Netherlands and France, the minimum threshold is ten and eleven workers. In the US, there are no limits on union recognition, in New Zealand two employees is sufficient, and in Canada, it varies between provinces from zero to three employees.

‘The next step: Trade union recognition in small enterprises’ was written for the TUC and the four unions by Professor Keith Ewing of King’s College, London and Anne Hock from Popularis, a company specialising in managing ballots and elections.

A summary of ‘The next step: Trade union recognition in small enterprises’ is available from the TUC press office. The full report costs £5 and can be purchased either online at www.tuc.org.uk/publications or from TUC Publications 0207 467 1294.

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley 020 7467 1248 or 07626 317903 (pager) or email media@tuc.org.uk

Press release (700 words) issued 5 Dec 2003