Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 15 June 2022.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 1:51, 15 June 2022

I don't recognise that at all, and I speak as someone who is not just a member of trade unions, but someone who has been a workplace shop steward, representing fellow workers, someone who's been a trade union lawyer, representing workers in all parts of our economy, proud to do so, and a former president of the Wales TUC. You'll find proud trade union members on all of these benches, and it informs the way we make choices as well.

So, the social partnership and procurement Bill, which you'll know that the Deputy Minister introduced recently, sets out how we'll formalise relationships. It won't just rely on personal relationships between people, but make it clear that social partnership is the way in which we will continue to do business. It informs the way we look at the economic contract and its development; it's our expectation for businesses. We want Wales to be a fair work nation. That, of course, involves workplace representatives, and I continue to believe the best form of a workplace representative is a trade union who is on your side and understands your own interests as a worker and how that actually affects the future of the business as well. Because our trade unions are very clear they want there to be good work in Wales for their members to undertake. They'd much rather spend their time working in partnership with companies, rather than having to deal with the challenges of poor employers.

The change in the shape of our economy, though, has affected trade union membership. Organising in new sectors of the economy is much more challenging than in big public services or in large private sector employers. We are looking, though, at how we continue to make the case in a range of sectors, and a good example of that is in retail, where the retail strategy that we will be launching, the vision for the future of retail, is one that has been co-produced by the Government, businesses and trade unions, looking ahead for the future of that sector and what it will mean for working people.