Regulations relating to industrial action have a disproportionately negative impact on employers and the legal balance has shifted too far in favour of trade unions, it has been claimed.
A new report from right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange – timed to coincide with this week's TUC conference in Manchester – has suggested that employment laws have not been adjusted to reflect unions' relatively low membership.
"The existing framework for industrial relations is out of kilter with the realities of the make up of the modern workforce and the relationship between employers and employees," said co-author and Policy Exchange chief economist Andrew Lilico.
He encouraged the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government to consider breaking up some of the larger unions into smaller, "more competitive" units and claimed some bodies are practically acting as monopolies.
The study's publication prompted a fierce response from TUC employment rights head Sarah Veale, who dismissed it as "a charter for bad bosses everywhere".
Posted by Hayley Edwards
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