John Cafferty: Why the trade unions are good for business

Trade unions were legitimised in an Act of 1871 which was, it is worth noting, passed by a Conservative Government.

Yet the TaxPayers’ Alliance and their supporters among some leading Conservative politicians persist in claiming they have discovered a scandalous “waste” of taxpayers’ money on union activity.

The phoney war they are trying to create between public sector unions and their employers centres on the claim that paying people for time off to carry out union duties is an unacceptable “cost” to the taxpayer.

In fact, the formal, legal right of union members to represent colleagues in the workplace is a tried and tested process which actually saves huge amounts of time and money to the benefit of taxpayers.

That is because all organisations need good industrial relations to ensure they run smoothly and productively.

Every single day our union representatives play a huge part in avoiding needless conflict and enormously costly legal proceedings thanks to that core democratic principle – negotiation.

Unless you are of the view that any form of protection and representation for workers is an impediment to unlimited exploitation by their employers (an idea firmly rejected by the late-Victorian capitalists as wholly counter-productive), then you would see this as being entirely fair.

Workers have rights. They have been hard won and supported by politicians of all persuasions for over a century.

In more recent history, most of the agreements for reasonable paid time off to carry out trade union duties come under the Trade Unions and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act of 1992 – again passed under a Tory Government.

So is it sensible that employers in very large organisations like local authorities negotiate with every single employee, on every issue, whether it be pay levels, working conditions or disciplinary proceedings?

Or is it far better to negotiate with a small number of union representatives who can authoritatively discuss complicated issues, keep their members informed and reach agreements specifically designed to avoid legal and industrial confrontation, and the massive costs involved?

The last Government’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR, now BIS) conducted an employment relations survey which found that, far from costing taxpayers, paid time off for union representatives results in:

Savings to employers and the exchequer of between £22m and £43m as a result of reducing the number of Employment Tribunal cases.

Benefits to society of between £236m and £371m by reducing days lost due to workplace injury.

Benefits to society worth up to £207m by reducing work-related illness.

Overall productivity gains worth between £4bn to £12bn to the UK economy.

Savings of at least £19m as a result of reducing dismissals.

Savings to employers of between £82m and £143m in recruitment costs as a result of reducing early exits.

These facts clearly demonstrate that there is no cost to taxpayers of the agreements on union representation – only substantial savings.

In a recent survey for the TUC and Personnel Today, the majority of human resources professionals who responded agreed that unions were “an essential part of modern employer/employee relations”.

And in May 2009 the TUC and the CBI issued a joint statement on the positive role of workplace union representatives – Reps in Action: How workplaces can gain from modern union representation.

The statement noted the value of union reps in delivering “real gains at the workplace” and the part that they play in producing “innovative solutions that make a tangible difference”.

In the light of all this evidence, it is important to consider why this ideological attack on trade union representation is being pursued so vigorously.

The fact that unprecedented cuts to public services are being imposed by central government undoubtedly has something to do with it.

Trade unions are seen as the obstacle to the wholesale trouble-free destruction of essential jobs and services on the altar of “austerity”.

And it is interesting that extremists of both left and right seem to concur on the role of trade unions.

Revolutionary Socialists have long claimed that unions are the reason we have not had their desired mass uprising of the proletariat, while right-wing zealots believe (rightly) that we stand in the way of unfettered laissez-faire exploitation and profiteering.

Both views are simplistic. The unions and the vast majority of major public and private sector employers understand the value and importance of properly-conducted industrial relations.

The anti-union campaign is purely designed to distract attention from the real issue: massive central government cuts to front-line jobs and services.

In this desperate economic climate, the trade unions, far from being a costly waste of money, are at the forefront of the battle to protect our members and all the communities they live and work in.

John Cafferty is Unison’s regional secretary for Yorkshire and Humberside.