Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Recruitment & retention
    • Wellbeing
    • Occupational Health
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Recruitment & retention
    • Wellbeing
    • Occupational Health
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise

Employee relationsIndustrial action / strikesInformation & consultationTrade unions

Strike ballot rules must be more strict to reduce walkouts, CBI insists

by Kat Baker 21 Jun 2010
by Kat Baker 21 Jun 2010

The CBI has called for stricter balloting regulations to reduce the number of strikes.

In its Making Britain the Place to Work report, the employers’ group called for strikes to have a higher bar of support, with balloting rules being changed so industrial action could only be taken if 40% of the workforce support the action, as well as a majority of those actually taking part in the vote.

Currently, trade unions can launch strikes so long as a majority of those that vote support the action.

The change would prevent strikes going ahead based on a relatively small turnout of active members, the CBI said.

If this new regulations regarding strike ballots had been in place, it would have prevented strikes over changes to Civil Service redundancy packages by the PCS union, as well as the RMT’s London Underground strike last year.

But the new rules would not have prevented the British Airways strikes or the Royal Mail stoppage last year.

The CBI’s proposals include:

  • Extending the right to request flexible working to all employees, while ensuring employers have enough time to adapt and are given clear guidance on how to prioritise requests.
  • Retaining the individual opt-out from the maximum 48-hour week under the Working Time Directive, which allows staff to choose to work longer hours, for example, to earn extra money to support their families.
  • Making the right to request flexible retirement more effective, rather than simply abolishing the default retirement age when there is not a practical alternative in place.
  • Introducing a sustainable employment test to block regulations that will cost jobs.
  • Simplifying rules around the employment of agency workers to ensure existing jobs can be maintained and new posts created.
  • Reviewing the implementation of existing EU directives to remove any gold-plating, including of European TUPE rules. Current TUPE laws effectively prevent an employer from harmonising the terms and conditions of a newly-acquired business with its existing workforce.
  • A ballot should be held to demonstrate workforce support for trade union recognition. This would replace the current system where the Central Arbitration Committee can automatically grant recognition if it believes union membership is greater than 50%.
  • Action to strengthen the tribunal system to make greater use of pre-hearing reviews to weed out weak claims.
John Cridland, the CBI deputy director-general, said: “Strikes cost the economy dearly and undermine our efforts to help rebuild the economy. That is why we believe the bar needs to be raised, so strike action is not possible unless 40% of the workforce has actively voted to withdraw its labour.”

He added: “I think it is a serious runner because the government will face a great deal of public anger if very necessary actions to deal with public spending result in strikes which the public as a whole believes are not justified.”

But the TUC has criticised the CBI’s proposal as a “demolition job on the rights at work of their members’ staff â€“ and a charter for exploitation by unscrupulous employers”.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, warned the UK already had some of the toughest legal restrictions on the right to strike, and the courts regularly strike down ballots.

He said: “Any further restrictions would be extremely unfair and almost certainly breach the UK’s international human rights obligations.”

The CBI has also proposed that consultation periods for collective redundancies should be reduced from 90 to 30 days for companies making more than 100 people redundant, in a bid to reduce uncertainty for staff and allow employers to reshape their workforces more swiftly.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Currently, only a one-month consultation period is needed for proposed redundancies of fewer than 100 jobs.

But the TUC warned reductions to redundancy consultation periods would not allow workforces enough time to develop alternatives for staff.

CBI
Kat Baker

previous post
Default retirement age should be abolished, say two-thirds of people
next post
Low Pay Commission to investigate link between minimum wage and youth employment, as wage rises are confirmed

You may also like

Space X scores court win against US National...

22 Aug 2025

RMT announces week-long Tube strikes

21 Aug 2025

Airbus workers to strike for 10 days over...

20 Aug 2025

Police Scotland constable who can’t work in cold...

15 Aug 2025

Liverpool University strikes halted after hybrid working relaxed

14 Aug 2025

Hospitality sector facing surge in tribunal claims

12 Aug 2025

Resident doctors reach ‘greater mutual understanding’ with government

6 Aug 2025

Doctors’ strike impact on patients limited, figures show

4 Aug 2025

Boeing defence workers walk out after latest pay...

4 Aug 2025

Nurses reject pay deal and threaten strike ballot

31 Jul 2025

  • Elevate your L&D strategy at the World of Learning 2025 SPONSORED | This October...Read more
  • How to employ a global workforce from the UK (webinar) WEBINAR | With an unpredictable...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Recruitment & retention
    • Wellbeing
    • Occupational Health
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise