Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - REPORT_NO318, November 1999

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 71. At its November 1998 meeting, the Committee noted proposals to outlaw discrimination against trade union members and the blacklisting of trade union activists in the consultative White Paper entitled "Fairness at work" and encouraged the Government to adopt, as soon as possible, provisions ensuring protection against anti-union discrimination, including blacklisting (see 311th Report, paras. 73-75).
2. 72. In a communication dated 29 September 1999, the Government indicates that the Data Protection Act of 1998 contains strict provisions on the processing of personal information, with additional restrictions on the processing of "sensitive" personal data, a definition which includes information on trade union membership. The 1998 Act now extends these restrictions to manually processed data as well as that processed by computer, thus closing the loophole which used to be exploited by the Economic League. In addition, the Employment Relations Act of 1999 contains powers to enable the Government to make regulations to prohibit the compilation, dissemination and use of lists which contain information about trade union membership or activities with a view to their being used by employers or employment agencies in recruitment, or used to discriminate against trade unionists in employment. Draft regulations to be made under the powers in the Act will be published for consultation in the course of next year.
3. 73. The Committee notes this information with interest and requests the Government to keep it informed of any further developments in respect of the protection against anti-union discrimination.