Public contract bidders 'must promote unions'

Firms that bid for public-sector contracts will have to promote union membership to their employees, under a new agreement between the Government, unions and charity sector groups.

Signatories to the joint statement include employers' group the CBI, union umbrella organisation the TUC and the Cabinet Office. It aims "to improve the quality of services delivered under Government contracts by raising the skills of service providers' employees and to help ensure fair treatment".

Under the agreement, firms will be required to provide information about union membership, and to offer employees access to skills straining.

"Good public services value those who work in them, with managers responsive to both the public and employees," said Susan Anderson, the CBI's director of public services. "That is why the CBI endorses these guidelines as a basis for ensuring the staff in public services, in all sectors, are valued and get the opportunity to develop."

However, critics have characterised the agreement as a Government concession to unions, which will increase red tape for businesses.
Conservative shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said that the move was "yet more evidence that the trade unions are receiving policy favours from Government ministers in return for bankrolling a nearly-bankrupt Labour Party".