Tebbit boxes clever
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SECRET BALLOTS in internal trade union elections would help make their leaders more representative of the views of their members, the Government claimed last week.
In a Green Paper on democracy in trade unions, Employment Secretary Norman Tebbit said: "Television cannot show the secret meetings at which unrepresentative minorities plot the trade union elections to ensure that positions of great power are filled by people elected on a tiny percentage of the available vote."
Public opinion, he believes has shown a strong feeling that trade unions ought to be democratic institutions whose aims reflect those of their members.
"However, many unions still fail to ballot their members on even the most major decisions affecting them," he says.
If trade unions respected what their members said through the secret ballot before embarking on industrial action, many "unnecessary and damaging strikes could be avoided", he claims.
Another area that worries Mr Tebbit is the political activities of trade unions.