Yesterday the Commons spent 90 minutes debating ‘union funding’, a pretext for some Tory MPs to attack trade union facility time in the public sector. Aside from many excellent interventions by Labour MPs, the intervention by Robert Halfon, Tory MP for Harlow was notable for his defence of union facility time: ‘...nevertheless, some facility time is good. A local employer in my constituency, the bus company Arriva, says that facility time is incredibly beneficial’. The whole debate, including a cameo performance by shamed Nazi stag party MP Aidan Burley, is well worth a read:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120229/halltext/120229h0001.htm#12022953000001
