UNIONS will soon be able to represent workers throughout the private sector in Gibraltar after the British territory published a law to discuss in parliament.
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the new Employment (Trade Union Recognition) Regulations ‘provide a degree of flexibility and permit a level of engagement by the Government’.
The manifesto commitment goes in the opposite direction to the UK, where the Tories have limited union action in the workplace.
The regulations force employers to recognise unions for ‘collective bargaining purposes’, the government said in a statement.
Unions will also now be able to apply to the Director of Employment when an employer refuses to recognise a union.
Steven Linares, Minister for Industrial Relations said the new law was a result of ‘detailed consultation with the Chamber of Commerce, the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses and the relevant unions’.
“Most employers already accept that modern Trade Union practices are as advantageous to them as to employees,” Linares added.
Picardo agreed, saying the new rules ‘strike the right balance’ and allow the government ‘to make changes in relation to the rules that will regulate their playing field’ in the future, if necessary.
The move comes as 96% of Morrison’s Unite the Union members voted to take part in strike action to raise wages.
All Unite members at the popular British supermarket rejected a 20p an hour raise back in September.
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