Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 18 January 2017.
Can I thank the Member for her utterly effective demolition of the case that some Members have tried to make here this afternoon in relation to ballot thresholds? In a previous life, Llywydd, I would have to sit across the table, as the health Minister, from the Member when she was a full-time trade union official, and a formidable trade union official she was. If I think back on that time, I remember a few sleepless nights, when I worried about how I would be able to take forward some of the things that she wished to advocate on behalf of her members. But, most of all, I remember the incredible work that she and her colleagues in that union carried out every single day, in order to prevent problems—which could have escalated and led to greater difficulty—how they got stuck in, how they represented their members and how they solved those problems. What an astonishing asset it is to our public services to have that group of people who carry out that activity on behalf of workers in our public services every single day.
On the point that the Member raised about electronic balloting, and then, of course, the independent review of electronic balloting, which is now under way, and came, of course, as a hard-won concession during the passage of the Act, I think electronic balloting has the clear potential to increase participation in democratic balloting for industrial action, and that is to be welcomed. The fact that there is an independent review now happening to explore the arguments and take evidence is another step forward, secured by the trade union movement. I look forward to the outcome of that review with great interest, and to seeing what use we can then make of it here in Wales.