CBI demands even worse union laws

Shady anti-union bosses stepped out into the open today, brazenly calling for even tougher laws to curb workers' rights.

Bosses' club the CBI pressed for harsher trade union legislation, including allowing employers to offer pay settlements directly to workers to wind up long-running disputes.

They claimed current laws "empowered" union leaders at the expense of employees and deputy director-general Neil Bentley said a "whole new approach" was needed to engage with workers.

The business group said laws had hardly been changed since the 1980s, when industrial relations were "very different."

Mr Bentley said changes were needed to "modernise and democratise" trade union law - including having statements from bosses as well as unions on ballot papers during disputes and "spelling out the consequences" of any action.

And he called for an end to aggregate balloting across multiple workplaces as it "allows the views of one workforce to be overridden by others working for a different employer."

To make sure unions have a mandate, collective recognition agreements should be up for renewal every three years, Mr Bentley added.

He claimed that his more "modern and democratic approach" would "put the ordinary member in charge.

But TUC general secretary Brendan Barber was quick to rebut the new tactic, saying the proposals would weaken employees' voices at work.

The CBI had remained "curiously silent" on modernising proposals such as electronic ballots or ending anti-democratic hoop-jumping to stop ballots being blocked in the courts, he said.