Fair game for the unions

''listening'' centre at Cheltenham, the signing of the EU Social Chapter, the introduction of the Working Time Directive, and the proposed introduction of a national minimum wage.

At its heart, the White Paper sets out a procedure for resolving disputes over union recognition, but only for firms which employ more than 20 staff.

Unions seeking recognition will propose the bargaining unit concerned, with employers free to appeal to a restructured and reinforced Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) and if they are unhappy with CAC, then deciding the appropriate unit.

The union will have to demonstrate it has reasonable support among those for whom it is seeking recognition, and the CAC will award recognition only if in a ballot ''a majority and at least 40% of those eligible to vote'' support recognition.

Ballots will be independently scrutinised, but may be carried out at the workplace if the scrutineer is satisfied it can be carried out fairly.

Otherwise it must be postal with the cost split equally between the employer and the union.

The 40% threshold will be reviewed in two years and altered if shown to be unworkable.

The CAC will also be empowered to award recognition automatically, without a ballot, if a majority of members in the bargaining unit are members of the union seeking recognition.

Unions will have the right to reasonable access to workers concerned in order to campaign, and the conciliation service, Acas, may be asked to draw up a code of practice on what should constitute reasonable access.

Where recognition has been granted by an employer or awarded by the CAC, a union will be able to apply to the CAC to impose a legally-binding procedure agreement setting out how the parties are to bargain over pay, hours, and holidays as a minimum.

The Government has proposed a similar procedure for derecognition moves by employers and is inviting views on how this should operate.

Although recognition has attracted most attention, there are many

other key proposals in the White Paper including:

n Cutting the qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal from two years to one, which the TUC estimates would help 7 million workers, but which falls far short

of the late John Smith's pledge to introduce protection from ''day one'' of recruitment;

n Abolishing the maximum limit

on industrial tribunal awards for unfair dismissal;

n Legislating to index-link limits on statutory awards and payments;

n Giving anyone dismissed for

taking part in lawful industrial action a right to claim unfair dismissal at

a tribunal;

n Outlawing the blacklisting of trade unionists by employers;

n Amending the law on industrial action ballots so unions no longer have to give names to employers of workers participating in ballots;

n Creating a legal right to allow workers to be accompanied by a trade union representative during grievance and disciplinary procedures.

Family-friendly employment policies are praised by Beckett for being good for business and parents, and central to the proposed culture of

co-operation which is necessary to help facilitate a balance between family and work responsibilities.

She proposes:

n Three months parental leave for men and women when they have

a baby or adopt a child, plus protection from dismissal for exercising this right;

n Workers will have extended maternity absence and parental leave after a year's service;

n Similar rights for workers to return to their jobs after parental leave as currently apply after maternity absence;

n A right to reasonable time off for family emergencies, such as a child's sickness, for all workers regardless of length of service.

Leader comment Page 24

BODY Shop, Dixons, Honda, most major oil companies, and newspapers - including the Independent, Daily Telegraph, News International, and Mirror groups - are among household names likely to figure in early union recognition bids.

The first three have consistently rebuffed union overtures while the oil companies and newspaper groups have all de-recognised unions in the wake of the bitter News International dispute of 13 years ago.

At that time, Rupert Murdoch sacked 5500 printworkers and moved production of his Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World from Fleet Street to Wapping in East London.

However, even more pressing than these major targets are two smaller ones where recognition has been denied: West London supermarket supplier of curries, Noon's, which is in the midst of a bitter recognition dispute with the GMB, and ADT Fire and Security, which last month withdrew recognition from the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) after some 20 trouble-free years.

AEEU engineers at ADT have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in protest at the derecognition move, but this has been put on hold following assurances from the Prime Minister to AEEU general secretary, Ken Jackson, that ADT's action was likely to fall foul of the legislation.

The AEEU, together with the MSF and the non-TUC breakaway Cabin Crew 89, are all vying for recognition on behalf of the 300 employees of British Airways' new cheap, no-frills airline, Go. However, whoever emerges successful could still be up against the industry's dominant union, the Transport and General Workers, which reserves the right to recruit at Stansted-based Go, which begins operations today.

Despite the 40% threshold proposed in the legislation, unions still expect to make considerable progress, although not as much as they would have done had a simple majority been deemed sufficient.

The newspaper sector is seen as an area of considerable scope for the National Union of Journalists, which is expected to make initial moves for the restoration of recognition at The Independent today. However, the print unions may have a harder time of it, especially at Wapping, where Rupert Murdoch is understood to be prepared to quit the site - which is due for re-equipping or redeveloping - rather than be forced to re-recognise the print unions.