In 2010 lazy journalism is to recycle Freedom of Information requests (garnered at great public expense) and dress them up as an investigation: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7981717/Taxpayers-spend-millions-paying-for-trade-union-activities.html
Today the Sunday Telegraph is running a sensationalist report that taxpayers are ‘spending millions paying for trade union activities’. Ace reporters from the Telegraph have suddenly discovered that ‘local authorities across the country are allowing hundreds of their employees to devote all or part of their working week to union, rather than council, duties - while their salaries are paid from public funds’.
Of course the basic fact underlying this nonsense is that paid time off for accredited representatives of recognised trade unions is standard practice across all sectors of the labour market and is indeed recommended by Government appointed body ACAS:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/TradeUnions/Tradeunionsintheworkplace/DG_10027556
As Dave Prentis said, in response to the latest attack on union rights in the public sector, "there are more than six million public sector workers and all these staff have the right to be represented. If trade union stewards are going to represent staff properly, they need time away from their usual jobs to do it. Public services are facing savage cutbacks and workers have a right to have their voices heard and rightly expect their union reps to be there to help them when they need them most. Far from causing industrial strife, paid facility time has contributed to the lowest levels of strikes on record. In short – trade union facility time makes good business sense."
The real purpose of the Telegraph article is betrayed by the comments of its anti union ally, the Tax Dodgers’ Alliance, whose Director Matthew Sinclair pontificates: "Trade unions are lining up to fight vital cuts in public spending and threatening strikes that could cause massive disruption for ordinary families. If big, rich, public sector unions are going to take an active political role, there is no way they should be getting taxpayers' money."
It’s clear that the Tory right do not accept that trade unions have a role in promoting democracy and defending public services. The anti union propaganda from the Telegraph is the beginning of a concerted attack on the right of workers in the public sector to organise collectively and challenge the policies of employers and Government.
Bob Oram
