Tuesday 07 Jun 2011 @ 09:02
WiredGov Newswire (news from other organisations)
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CBI REACTS TO VINCE CABLE’S SPEECH ON TRADE UNIONS

The CBI yesterday commented on the Business Secretary, Vince Cable’s, speech to the GMB Congress in Brighton.


Neil Carberry, CBI Director for Employment, said:

“There is a strong case for modernising the law on industrial relations to reflect the way workplaces have changed, with just 14% of private sector staff now members of unions.

“We hope that union leaders will work constructively with employers to avoid strikes, because the number one priority should be securing the recovery.

“Strikes should always be a last resort, but the Government needs a contingency plan to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum in the event of industrial action. Our proposals include giving the public more notice before a strike goes ahead and allowing businesses to hire agency workers directly to cover striking workers.”

Further details on the CBI’s proposals for modernising industrial relations law, including raising the threshold before strikes can go ahead to 40% of the balloted workforce, as well as a simple majority, can be found in the CBI report Keeping the Wheels Turning at: http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca12a8025671c00381cc7/a1b868b57283cfd7802577ae002dfe0e

Notes to Editors:

The CBI is the UK's leading business organisation, speaking for some 240,000 businesses that together employ around a third of the private sector workforce. With offices across the UK as well as representation in Brussels, Washington, Beijing and Delhi the CBI communicates the British business voice around the world.


Media Contact:
CBI Press Office on 020 7395 8239 or out of hours pager on 07623 977 854. Follow the CBI on Twitter at: www.cbi.org.uk/twitter

 

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