DUP Offers Backing for Good Jobs Bill if Sinn Féin Drops 1 Union Rights Clause

2 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 8

Emma Little-Pengelly said the DUP could support Northern Ireland’s Good Jobs Bill only if Sinn Féin split the legislation and removed provisions expanding trade union workplace access.
In the Assembly, the deputy first minister called the bill “half-baked,” said Sinn Féin was trying to “bully and bounce” her, and argued no Northern Ireland business supports the union-access measures.
The bill would let unions request access to workplaces for recruitment and representation, with employers barred from unreasonably refusing, even where unions are not already formally recognised.
Caoimhe Archibald said the bill would protect workers including those on zero-hours contracts, carers and parents seeking neonatal leave, and insisted she would not leave anyone behind.
Unions said stripping out the access clauses would betray more than 1 million workers, underscoring an Executive deadlock that has kept the wider employment-law overhaul from securing full backing.