Tories panic over trade union bill shows it’s desperately needed

Employers will now be required to inform employees of their right to join a trade union under the new Employment Rights Bill. Significantly, Whitehall will provide an approved statement for bosses to hand to workers, in order to prevent hostile employers from attempting to discourage union membership.

As a quick demonstration of what such a hostile boss might sound like, Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses said:

Misinformation putting a positive sales gloss on trade unions should not take the place of objective information about what a union actually achieves.

A boss’ opinion on “what a union actually achieves” isn’t objective information, Craig. That’s what we in the journalism biz call ‘obvious bias’ and ‘a load of bollocks’.

Trade unions: ‘the least every worker should expect’

Of course, it’s nothing new that employers have to give workers basic information about their terms and conditions. That includes the right to join a union. However, the important change is the provision of a set message to deliver regarding the right to union membership. As reported in the Times: 

The preferred option is a government-drafted, standardised, official statement for employers to circulate. Businesses would be required to issue this wording either directly — for example, by email or letter — or indirectly, ensuring it was continuously available on a staff portal.

The statement would explain what unions do, summarise members’ statutory rights, list any unions recognised by the employer and link to a government website listing all unions operating nationally.

Ministers said this was necessary because many workplaces had managers who were “ambivalent or opposed” to unionisation, and therefore would not explain workers’ rights reliably or neutrally.

Workplaces would also be required to circulate a reminder of this information yearly. A government source told the Times:

People have a right to join a trade union if they want to in their workplace – just as they have a right not to, if that’s their personal choice.

This change will remove the need for conflictual acts, such as anti-union practices or unions outside workplaces handing out leaflets, on both sides when it comes to union access to the workplace and reduce tensions between some employers and unions in the interest of employees.

Gary Smith, the general secretary of GMB union, approved the idea:

The least every worker should expect is to be told about their legal right to join a union.

For years, bad bosses have relied on workers not getting the full picture of what they’re entitled to. It’s a simple case of honesty and transparency and it’s never a problem for good employers.

🚨 NEW: All employers will be required to hand staff pro-union messaging written by the Government under the new Employment Rights Bill

This will include what unions do, the rights available to members and the details of recognised unions in the workplace

[@thetimes]

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) December 7, 2025

Don’t threaten us with a good time

However, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith was less enamored:

It’ll be Christmas every day for trade unions if this sinister proposal became law. Every employer in the land will be compelled to promote trade unions using government-dictated propaganda.

Alongside the ‘right to roam’ for unions into firms, it will result in the colonisation of the private sector by trade unions and the collapse of British productivity and growth.

Employers compelled to promote trade unions? The colonisation of the private sector by workers’ rights organisations? Oh Andy, Andy, Andy, don’t threaten us with a good time. Still, if there’s a Tory calling your union-related proposal ‘sinister’, you’re probably doing something right.

As a side note, Griffith also stated in the debate around the latest amendments that:

Strikes will become far more common. But don’t take do not take my word for it—[Interruption.] The Secretary of State is chuntering from a sedentary position, but perhaps he would like to listen to his colleague the Health Secretary, who just last week said that he had “had it” with the unions and that “the last thing patients need this winter is strike action”.

So even the Tories think Streeting sounds like a fucking Tory, which is very normal for the Labour health secretary.

The unions fund the Labour Party.

The Labour government is passing a law to help the unions recruit to more members.

Those membership fees will pay for the Labour Party.

Filthy! pic.twitter.com/dkc8jJdrci

— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) December 8, 2025

Labour has ties to the unions? Colour us shocked. Except, this exact criticism is addressed at length in the amendments to the bill:

(a) each member of the union has the right to change whether they are a contributor to the political fund of the union.

That’s one example, but it goes on (a lot). Every union member has the right to state that their contributions shouldn’t be used to fund political parties. That’s nice – many unions still have a relationship with Labour for some reason, and we wouldn’t want our money going anywhere near the PLP.

It’s a pity that MPs like Cleverly don’t seem to bother with reading things before they start criticising them. Unless… you don’t think someone would just go onto the internet and lie on purpose, do you?

Anyway, as a quick reminder – most people (not Tories or bosses) actually like unions and think they’re good for workers’ rights:

With Labour's Employment Rights Bill set to require employers to inform staff of their right to join a union, Britons tend to feel the positives of membership outweigh the negatives

More positives than negatives: 39%
More negatives than positives: 12%
About the same: 26% pic.twitter.com/WmdnJWsfI2

— YouGov (@YouGov) December 8, 2025

Informing workers of their trade union rights, and preventing bosses from lying through their teeth about it, is common sense. You can tell it’s common sense because Tories are talking about it like it’s the end of the fucking world. However, it’s also a very minor pro-worker move.

Labour have already allowed day-one protections against unfair dismissal to be scrapped in the hopes of getting this bill through parliament by Christmas. That broke a manifesto pledge, and betrayed both workers and campaign pledges. Now, can we PLEASE just pass this fucking bill already?

Featured image via the Canary