So, here we go again: same old Tories, fighting yesterday’s battles, with yesterday’s arguments, on yesterday’s issues, oblivious to the fact that the world has moved on from the anti-union rhetoric of the 1970s and the 1980s. It’s ironic, is it not, that on the day that Theresa May makes a desperate plea to other parties to help her out of the almighty mess that she’s made of Brexit through a monumental misjudgement in calling a general election, coupled with her gross overestimation of herself and her gross underestimation of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, the Welsh Tories are back here creating division and attacking workers’ representatives? It would appear that the general election result has done nothing to temper their in-built prejudice as they continue to support attacks on working people in Wales and those who support them.

Llywydd, as a trade union official, I spent most of my working life fighting attacks on workers’ rights and anti-trade union legislation. Being elected to this Assembly will not change that. I will continue to fight any attempts to try to turn the clock back on those rights. So, once again, I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the progressive approach of Welsh Government in seeking to ensure that our public services here in Wales, and the dedicated, hard-working people who deliver those services, are not subjected to the vindictive and small-minded restrictions imposed by the UK Tory Government’s Trade Union Act 2016. I warmly congratulate the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Mark Drakeford, in bringing forward the Trade Union (Wales) Bill, which I shall be supporting. I shall be opposing each of the amendments submitted in the name of Janet Finch-Saunders, including this first amendment, which would have the effect of imposing restrictions on employers’ DOCAS—deduction of contributions at source—arrangements. I’ll talk in more detail on that specific proposal in a while, but, for now, I have a few general observations that I want to make.

What the Tories really don’t like about the Trade Union (Wales) Bill is that it is a reflection of how successful social partnership working is here in Wales. It is a total anathema to them that Government and employers are able to both recognise and evidence the success of social partnership with trade unions in the delivery of key public services. If anything came out of the series of recent tragic events across the country, it is the amazing dedication of our public service staff in responding to those events, helping others, even when in doing so they exposed themselves to risk. With the possible exception of the Prime Minister, Conservative Ministers were actually quick in coming out to praise the work of those wonderful men and women, but they don’t see the irony of doing so at the same time as they’re seeking to undermine their rights at work.

Both the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee and the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee have given their support to this Bill, but it also has widespread support from outside the National Assembly. The Workforce Partnership Council and the council for economic development provide invaluable forums for Welsh Government and employers to engage with trade unions across a wide range of Government policies and wider social and economic issues. Employers’ representatives from a range of bodies, including the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Welsh Local Government Association and NHS Wales, come together as equal partners with trade unions and Welsh Government Ministers to work in social partnership.

The head of the WLGA, in giving evidence to the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, said:

‘The WLGA has supported and embraced the concept of social partnership…we firmly recognise as employers that engaging with the workforce through the recognised trades unions played a significant part in ensuring that service continuity has been at the heart of some difficult decisions’.

So, all sides are able to recognise the benefit of a joint approach in negotiating agreements, addressing challenges, and resolving disagreements before they become disputes. So, everybody else gets it, but the Tories don’t.

It’s the approach of inclusivity and mutual respect involving trade unions that the Tories seem unwilling or unable to grasp. Or is it because they just don’t understand trade unions and they have an ingrained and ill-informed prejudice against them? Most likely, all of the above.

But let’s come back to the specifics of this first amendment. Its impact would be to make it more difficult for employers to provide DOCAS—deduction of contributions at source. I say that because the vast majority of employers in the public sector want to be able to have the ability to agree constructive check-off agreements with their recognised trade unions. But, of course, the real intention of the Tories is not to penalise employers, but to put barriers in the way of recruitment and retention of members by trade unions, making it more difficult for unions to collect their subscriptions. Necessary? No. Vindictive? Yes.

I’ve heard Tories argue that check-off operates in the public sector without the knowledge of individual trade union members. How ridiculous. That is absolute and total nonsense. Every individual member has to sign a membership form for the particular union that they are joining, so they are fully aware of which union they are joining. And as part of that application, they have to individually authorise any deduction from their pay, just as they would have to do for any other non-statutory deduction, such as, for example, a charity or a credit union.

But as I’ve said, it is often the employer who is supportive of such agreements. For instance, Flintshire County Council, again in evidence to the equality committee, said:

‘This is a beneficial business arrangement for all three parties. There is no practical reason to discontinue with the arrangement.’

And then the Tories say, as Janet Finch-Saunders said in her opening remarks, ‘What about the cost to the taxpayer of DOCAS arrangements?’ Well, in this day and age of modern automated pay systems, the cost of DOCAS arrangements is minimal, particularly when operated alongside similar deduction arrangements for things like childcare schemes, cycle-to-work schemes, credit union contributions, and charitable deductions. I don’t hear Tories clamouring for charges to apply to these. Well, let me tell the ill-informed that most unions in the public sector actually pay for the provision of this service. In NHS Wales, for example, this is around 2 per cent of all subscriptions collected—a significant amount of income generation for the employer.

Llywydd, this amendment serves no useful purpose, other than to attempt to frustrate union organisation, as a vindictive act against working people who choose to join a trade union, and I ask every Member to vote against it.