§ 28. Mr. Lawrenceasked the Secretary of State for Employment what measures he has in mind to protect trade unionists from being fined by trade union branch courts for failing to take industrial action ordered by their trade union with which they do not agree and concerning which they have not been consulted.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe 1980 and 1982 Employment Acts and the code of practice on the closed shop already provide protection against the arbitrary use of trade union power against union members in a closed shop. In particular, the code provides that unions should not discipline members who refuse to support industrial action because there has been no secret ballot. Where a union defies this provision and there is a closed shop, any member expelled for refusing to pay a fine is likely to succeed in a complaint to an industrial tribunal of unreasonable expulsion from his union. This will render any subsequent dismissal for non-membership unfair. The Government are currently considering changes to the code of practice and in particular whether its provisions in this area need to be strengthened. Outside a closed shop, it is open to a union member fined in the circumstances described to refuse to pay the fine and to leave the union.