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What are the barriers to improving union recognition in the workplace?
The Maybots during a TUC rally in central London, as part of its 'great jobs' campaign

LEGISLATION giving workers the right to have their union recognised by their employer exists but is weak and little used. 

The Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA) has a deep basic design flaw in that it only confers recognition of trade unions as legitimate representatives of workers after their employer has been given a number of opportunities to weaken their position.

Today there is a huge imbalance of power in the workplace. Only one in four workers has their working conditions set by collective bargaining, compared with three in four in the 1970s. 

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