Trade union access ‘right to roam’ comes in on 30 October
As part of the Employment Rights Act, there are new measures coming in for October, including extending the deadline for employment tribunal cases and the right to access workplaces, colloquially called 'right to roam'.
TSSA reps at Transport for London (TfL) have been pushing for this for a long time. When access to members and potential members was blocked, reps had to resort to leafletting outside of key buildings, often in the freezing wind tunnel and stealthy 5am TSSA desk drops. Reps also responded creatively by putting a TSSA tablecloth in the staff canteen, laying down leaflets and encouraging staff to talk to them about issues that were affecting them.
TfL reluctantly responded by allowing restricted access, by setting up limited stalls for unions every few months in specific slots and limiting it to only two reps staffing the stalls. They even came down to check and turned some TSSA activists away. TSSA reps are not allowed to email non-members and Grad and Apprentice reps have been threatened with GDPR measures simply for reaching out to their course mates.
The new legislation allows for the purpose to meet, recruit or organise workers or to facilitate collective bargaining. It also provides examples of digital access, such as an email to all staff or an invite to an online meeting.
TSSA reps in TfL run excellent email communications to members, targeting exactly the departments involved, but has been a barrier not to be able to inform all staff in the area. The Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces adds detail and guidance. It also provides examples of digital access, such as an email to all staff or an invite to an online meeting.
We are glad that these measures are coming in now, but it is extremely embarrassing that a public sector organisation under the control of a Labour Mayor and a long-standing Collective Bargaining Agreement is being forced by law to afford us basic trade union rights. Unfortunately it is a slow process, requiring the union to make an 'access request' and giving the employer 15 days to respond and a further 25 days to negotiate an agreement, however we intend to use it.
