LTB 814/15 Trade Union Bill update and CWU National Briefing 27th January 2016

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LTB 814/15 Trade Union Bill update and CWU National Briefing 27th January 2016

No. 814/15



21st December 2015



To: All CWU Branches

Dear Colleagues

Trade Union Bill update and‎ CWU National Briefing 27th January 2016

The purpose of this LTB is to provide an update to branches on the Trade Union Bill and to notify you that the union will be holding a national briefing on this as follows:

National Briefing on the Trade Union Bill for all branches 27th January 2016, 11am-3pm, TUC Congress House, London

The briefing will cover the details of the Bill and the plans for a national campaign week of action by trade unions across the country, which is being co-ordinated by the TUC for 8th - 14th February. The TUC is branding this heartunions week (http://heartunions.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).

Under the current proposals this week of action will involve regional campaign events, workplace briefings and a day for co-ordinated action/protests on Thursday 11th February. Branches will be notified of further developments on this and we will be writing to members with information on the week of action in January.

Parliamentary process

The Bill itself is currently before the House of Lords and is scheduled to have its second reading on 11th January. Subsequent stages in the Lords are expected to be held in January and late February or March. Following this, if the Bill is amended it would need to be approved by both Houses before it becomes law.

The union is meeting with Lords from across the House at a national level to try to mobilise opposition to the Bill and secure amendments which would remove some of its harshest provisions. The culture in the House of Lords is different to the House of Commons and we are not therefore asking Branches and members to lobby Peers in the Lords directly.

However, Branches are urged to continue to campaign against the Bill, particularly in Conservative and Liberal Democrat constituencies, by meeting with and lobbying MPs, raising the issue through local and social media and engaging the public to put pressure on MPs before the Bill returns to the House of Commons next year.

Resources for campaigning were attached to LTB 696/15 and information is also available from https://www.tuc.org.uk/TUBill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Any queries in relation to the contents of this LTB should be addressed to ‎gsoffice@cwu.org.



Yours sincerely



Dave Ward

General Secretary