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Proceeding contribution from David Nuttall (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Friday, 22 October 2010. It occurred during Debate on bill on Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill.


Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill

My hon. Friend is quite right. That is a point that I did not consider fully—I apologise for that—when going through clause 1(3). There is a risk that that subsection, taken together with subsection (5), will mean that the employer now has the problem—it will be a problem—of bringing before the courts evidence that there has been substantial compliance or non-compliance. All the evidence might well be in the hands of the trade unions, and it will be very difficult for an employer to be able to satisfy a court and, under this Bill, they would have that responsibility. Employers would have that burden placed on them. How on earth can they be expected to fulfil and meet that requirement when the information is in the hands of the trade unions? As my hon. Friend reasonably and rightly says, it would perhaps be more understandable for there to be a provision in the Bill to require the information that the court needed to be handed over so that there could be no doubt that there was a full requirement on the part of the trade unions to hand over to the employer all the relevant information to enable the employer to submit an action to the court. Without that information, the employer would have no reasonable basis on which to instruct their solicitor, and there would be no way for a solicitor to instruct counsel, because they would not have the facts and figures to enable them to make their case.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
516 c1234 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Disclosure of information Ballots Industrial disputes Injunctions Trade unions Torts Strikes British Airways Unite
Legislation
Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk