Tuesday, June 17, 2014
A coalition split
The very nature of coalition means that there will inevitably be disagreements between the two parties and that these will be described as splits. This happens with internal party coalitions as well but in those cases the public do not always get to see what is going on.
Inevitably, as we get closer to the General Election the number and seriousness of these splits will increase. That is a good thing. It is especially good when the split is around something as fundamental as the right of a civil servant to maintain their membership of a trade union.
The Independent reports on this particular issue. They say that a bitter Coalition row has broken out over moves by Conservative ministers to stop Whitehall departments deducting trade union subscriptions from civil servants’ pay packets:
The clashes came after Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, wrote to departments urging them to end the system of deducting union subs through Whitehall’s payroll system, known as “check-off”.
His instruction will be ignored in ministries headed by Lib Dems, such as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Nick Clegg also intervened to stop Mr Maude scrapping check-off for staff in the Cabinet Office.
Lib Dem ministers have been instructed by Mr Clegg to resist the move in other departments.
A senior Liberal Democrats source is quoted as saying that “This is classic pandering to the Conservative Party’s anti-union right,” he said. “Some Tories want to attack the very principle of trade unions and that is not something the Liberal Democrats will ever sign up to.”
Two years ago the Liberal Democratss vetoed proposals backed by David Cameron to give companies the power to sack unproductive workers at will. We also disagree over Tory support for a threshold on the number of union members who have to vote for industrial action in essential services.
This is one issue I am glad the party is diffeentiating itself over.
Inevitably, as we get closer to the General Election the number and seriousness of these splits will increase. That is a good thing. It is especially good when the split is around something as fundamental as the right of a civil servant to maintain their membership of a trade union.
The Independent reports on this particular issue. They say that a bitter Coalition row has broken out over moves by Conservative ministers to stop Whitehall departments deducting trade union subscriptions from civil servants’ pay packets:
The clashes came after Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, wrote to departments urging them to end the system of deducting union subs through Whitehall’s payroll system, known as “check-off”.
His instruction will be ignored in ministries headed by Lib Dems, such as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Nick Clegg also intervened to stop Mr Maude scrapping check-off for staff in the Cabinet Office.
Lib Dem ministers have been instructed by Mr Clegg to resist the move in other departments.
A senior Liberal Democrats source is quoted as saying that “This is classic pandering to the Conservative Party’s anti-union right,” he said. “Some Tories want to attack the very principle of trade unions and that is not something the Liberal Democrats will ever sign up to.”
Two years ago the Liberal Democratss vetoed proposals backed by David Cameron to give companies the power to sack unproductive workers at will. We also disagree over Tory support for a threshold on the number of union members who have to vote for industrial action in essential services.
This is one issue I am glad the party is diffeentiating itself over.
