Unions exonerated as Tory smear scheme falls flat on its fac

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Unions exonerated as Tory smear scheme falls flat on its face -

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The QC leading the enquiry into trade union tactics during strikes says no laws need to be changed.

The government commissioned the Carr Review in November following allegations of bullying and harassment during the Unite dispute at Grangemouth, specifically after union activists paraded an inflatable rat outside bosses’ homes.

Bruce Carr’s findings were this afternoon welcomed by unions.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “The Tories have spectacularly shot themselves in the foot on this. In their haste to attack trade unions, they have embarrassed their own appointee, Bruce Carr, into accepting this report for what it was all along – a desperate pre-election stunt to smear democratic trades unions and their members.

“This was always a purely political exercise with neither the CBI nor the TUC prepared to get involved. Now Bruce Carr has moved to distance himself from what was nothing more than a pre-meditated effort by the Tory party to get a QC to sanction laws further restricting the rights of unions.

“The UK’s trade unions are already the most highly regulated in the world, leaving the UK’s workers among the easiest and cheapest to sack. But while Bruce Carr may have thrown in the towel, the Tories remain intent on going into the general election in 2015 with a vicious anti-worker programme.

“Now at least voters can see their agenda for what it is – a determination to impede all protest against unethical behaviour by employers, and the removal of the last vestiges of protection against abuse that the working people of this country possess.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Bruce Carr has been cynically used by the government in a party political stunt for the Conservative Party.

“He is right to recognise this “politicisation”, so I am not surprised at his decision not to make any recommendations and to simply review the few submissions sent to him.

“But the politicisation is not new, it was built in from the start. Contrary to Nick Clegg’s assurance, employer behaviour such as blacklisting was not even mentioned in the terms of reference for the review. And now Mr Carr has found his work entirely pre-empted by a Conservative Party press release.

“The Conservative Party should now repay to the taxpayer the costs of the enquiry.”

UCATTT general secretary Steve Murphy said: “The collapse of the Carr Review, demonstrates that the Conservatives’ own placeman, realises that their proposed attacks on worker’s rights, especially the right to strike, cannot be justified by anyone who believes in basic human rights.”

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Union law review frozen after barrister objects to ministerial statements

Bruce Carr refuses to evaluate rules around strikes and trade disputes after policy announcements left his views 'meaningless'

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An independent review of laws governing industrial disputes has been dramatically scaled back after the QC in charge objected to recent ministerial announcements on introducing anti-strike laws.

The Carr review , led by the employment law specialist Bruce Carr, was asked by the Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, and the business secretary, Vince Cable, to examine union laws and come up with recommendations to stop intimidation by activists.

But Whitehall sources said that policy announcements by Maude last month suggesting that the Tories would introduce new laws to curb unions' rights to picket had rendered Carr's own review "meaningless". Instead, Carr told ministers that he would not come up with any recommendations for legal changes.

The announcement will embarrass Maude, who has previously insisted that Carr's review was neutral and able to come up with new laws without political interference. It will please the unions, which have consistently argued that the review was a political stunt since it was announced by the prime minister in November.

Carr said in a statement on the review's website that he had become increasingly concerned about the quantity and breadth of evidence that the review has been able to obtain. "In addition, I am also concerned about the ability of the review to operate in a progressively politicised environment in the run-up to the general election and in circumstances in which the main parties will wish to legitimately set out their respective manifesto commitments and have already started to do so.

"Any recommendations which might be put forward without the necessary factual underpinning would be capable of being construed as the review making a political rather than an evidence-based judgment, whichever direction such recommendations might take.

"As such I have agreed with the secretary of state for business, innovation and skills and the minister for the Cabinet Office that the review will produce a scaled-down report, which reflects on the process of attempting to obtain evidence and which sets out the story as best we are able to tell it from the limited evidence which we have gathered, but will not make recommendations for change."

It is understood that Carr first raised his own concerns that the review had been severely compromised last month, after Maude announced a package of new laws to curb the rights of unions to take industrial action. The plans centred on forcing union leaders to prove that half their members supported a walkout and that a large proportion had voted. Otherwise, a strike could be ruled illegal.

But the plans also suggested that a future Tory government would introduce a criminal offence to stop picketing and would strengthen the code of practice on picketing by giving it statutory force. Carr told ministers that this announcement cut right across the review, it is understood.

David Cameron first revealed plans for a review of union laws in November, in light of the "leverage" tactics deployed by the Unite union at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Falkirk. At the time, Labour was in the midst of a damaging row over tactics employed by union officials in Falkirk to dominate the local party.

But the planned review, which was due to look at industrial relations in the round and the Grangemouth case in particular, stalled after the Trades Union Congress (TUC) objected to what it felt was a lack of consultation. It was due to be completed later this month.

The review's terms of reference were limited in March to an assessment of the alleged use of extreme tactics in industrial disputes, including leverage, which directly targets managers, and the effectiveness of the existing legal framework to prevent inappropriate or intimidatory actions in trade disputes. The Grangemouth investigation has also been dropped.

In a joint statement issued in April, Maude, and Cable confirmed the review would make proposals and recommendations for change.

The TUC labelled the inquiry a headline-grabbing party-political stunt. Labour had privately argued that the review was primarily designed to embarrass Ed Miliband due to his links with Unite.

Privately, ministers have said they doubt there are any holes in the law regarding picketing, or union activists trespassing on managers' private property. But they felt there may be an issue about the way the law is enforced by police. The precise terms of reference involve "the alleged use of extreme tactics in industrial disputes, including so-called 'leverage' tactics; and the effectiveness of the existing legal framework to prevent inappropriate or intimidatory actions in trade disputes".

Reacting to Carr's statement, the TUC general secretary, Frances O'Grady, said the Tories should repay the cost of the inquiry. "Bruce Carr has been cynically used by the government in a party political stunt for the Conservative party. He is right to recognise this politicisation, so I am not surprised at his decision not to make any recommendations and simply review the few submissions sent to him.

"But the politicisation is not new, it was built in from the start … and now Mr Carr has found his work entirely pre-empted by a Conservative party press release."

Mark Serwotka, head of the PCS union, said: "The Tories handpicked Bruce Carr to do their bidding but even he couldn't stomach their anti-union rhetoric, exposing the review as a facade for an attack not just on more than 6 million trade union members but on all working people and their communities."