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Equality Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 10:"Page 54, line 28, at end insert—" ““(   )   The Secretary of State shall invite trade unions and organisations representative of business interests to nominate Commissioners.”” The noble Baroness said: The intention of this amendment, tabled in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Gibson of Market Rasen, is to ensure that trade unions and employers’ organisations are represented on the new commission. As I am sure everyone realises, work plays a major role in most people’s lives. People are concerned about access to suitable work, their prospects when they have it and their treatment at work by both managers and fellow employees. I agree with the Government when they tell us that work is the way out of poverty. In many cases, unions are there at work to represent employees’ interests. This was acknowledged by previous governments when the present, soon to be former, commissions were established. I was myself a nominee by the TUC   General Council on the Equal Opportunities Commission. Employers’ representatives are also present by nomination. Of course access to services is important and is dealt with elsewhere in the Bill, but work is of such overwhelming importance in the lives of most people that it is essential that organisations with a knowledge of what it is all about are represented on the new commission and should be there as a matter of right rather than at the discretion of the Secretary of State. Certainly, once the commission really gets going, much casework is bound to concern rights at work. I have been approached by the TUC, which is concerned about the failure of the present Bill to mention any possibility of it being represented. I look forward to a sympathetic response and I beg to move.