US lawyer sees unions as threat to hospitality

An American lawyer is calling on hoteliers and restaurateurs to resist efforts to unionise the hospitality business in Britain.

But union officials have warned his US-style techniques will not work if imported to the UK.

Alan Lips, a lawyer with Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, based in Ohio, told a seminar organised by British law firm Eversheds that new union legislation would make hospitality firms immediate targets for the unions.

The provisions of the Employment Relations Act 1999, relating to trade union recognition, came into force on 6 June.

The main change is that employees now have the right to demand recognition of their union where a majority of the workforce is in favour.

Lips wants US-owned companies to argue against union membership.

He suggested employers could wear baseball caps and badges declaring their opposition to a union. He said: "If you put on a button that says ‘Vote No' you are signalling your views."

TUC general secretary John Monks warned if staff did this they could alienate their customers.

He said: "Somehow I don't see it catching on. One in three customers will be a union member. I wonder what they might think about being served by someone wearing a badge that insults them."

Dave Turnbull, regional organiser for the TGWU, added: "If they [employers] are doing things right with their staff then they have nothing to fear from the new regulations."

McDonald's, which has 60,000 employees in the UK, was not prepared to comment on its attitude to unions.

A group spokesman instead said: "We are not anti-union but we have always preferred to talk directly to our staff."

A spokesman for Whitbread's Marriott UK, whose parent company is the US-owned Marriott International, said: "We are an equal opportunities employer and we do not discriminate against a person if they are a member of a union." by Louise Bozec