Final preparations for TUC Congress

TUC Accuses Bosses over Union Rights

A new report by the Trade Union Congress says the bosses of some firms are sacking workers for joining or refusing to leave unions, are spying on people attending union meetings, and are denying rights to union representatives.

The TUC's report Denied A Voice at Work highlights seven firms who refuse to give workers union recognition.

They include Dixons, where around 60% of 380 in-store service engineers balloted by the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union said they wanted union recognition. But the company is refusing to act.

At Railtrack the company has derecognised a union representing 2,000 middle managers.

Monks: Unions are a basic democratic right

"The TUC uncovers evidence of employer behaviour better suited to the Victorian mill owner," said the report.

Mr Monks told a news conference that the seven cases highlighted in the TUC report revealed "shocking behaviour" at workplaces up and down the country.

It revealed cases of managers spying on union meetings and of union members who were sacked after years of loyal service simply for seeking consultation.

"What is so tragic about these cases is that it is hard to see how this macho management benefits the business," said Mr Monks.

Public sector union leader Rodney Bickerstaff tells the BBC he thinks the Labour government still has a lot to deliver
Dur: 2'50"

Mr Monks said unions and the TUC were also seeking partnership with the new Government, which he said was not trying to shut unions out of public life as the Tories attempted.

"They recognise the contribution we can make to solving many of the problems the country faces. They have been like a breath of fresh air for unions," he said.

On the eve of the TUC Congress in Brighton, the TUC also published an opinion poll showing overwhelming public support for increased union rights, including the union recognition law due to be published in the new year.

Mr Monks said the level of support for union recognition will ensure that the White Paper receives a warm welcome from the public.

But the Prime Minister told BBC's Breakfast With Frost insisted the unions should not look to Labour for preferential treatment.

"Nobody, whether they are a private individual, a company, a trade union, gets anything in return other than the Government whose ideals and principles they support," he said.

"And what we do is we govern for the whole country. I really believe that the vast majority of trade unionists today know that the relationship with a Labour government is one that is based on equality of treatment between employers and trade unions," he said.

Mr Blair said he had had trade unionists in Downing Street since the election "because I think it's wrong that they are shut out in the cold and not part of the process".

But he had also met representatives of industry and neither they nor trade unionists determined government policy.

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