AN SNP-run council has said it will not to comply with the Trade Union Bill, should the controversial legislation become law.
North Ayrshire Council has become the first SNP administration to agree to the move in a vote, and comes after a series of Labour-run councils backed a similar position.
The authority, which counts Nicola Sturgeon's mother Joan as its provost, saw its councillors agree a motion by an overwhelming majority that stated the Tory legislation "will restrict the ability of this council to engage in good industrial relations practices with our workforce and their representatives."
It said it would "defend and support" check-off arrangements, which see union dues directly deducted from wages. The Trade Union Bill seeks to end the practice. It stated that it considered the system part of its "collective and contractual arrangements" with unions.
It also committed not to using agency staff to plug staffing gaps during industrial action, a move the new legislation would allow.
The leader of the council, the SNP's Willie Gibson, will write to UK business secretary Sajid Javid stating the authority's resolve not to co-operate with "any attacks on facility time or check off". He will also write to the Scottish Government outlining the position, and urge the SNP administration to support similar moves in the public sector across Scotland.
A series of Labour-led councils, including Aberdeen, Glasgow, Renfrewshire and Stirling have already said they will not comply with the new law. It would also impose minimum turnout thresholds on unions in ballots before strikes would become legal and force organisers on picket lines to wear armbands to identify themselves.
A rival amendment, proposed by North Ayrshire's only Tory councillor, stated that agreeing not to comply "is an incitement to law breaking." It attracted the support of only three councillors, compared to 21 who backed the original motion.
At Scottish Labour's recent conference, a series of delegates said they were prepared to "go to Barlinnie" if necessary to oppose the legislation, and called on the Scottish Government to refuse to grant legislative consent to the proposals.
The First Minister has said there will be "no co-operation" from her Government in imposing "draconian" trade union legislation.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: "The First Minister set out to the Conveners Committee that we believe that the UK Government should seek our legislative consent for the bill and if Scotland is not excluded from the bill we will continue to make that case."
Scottish Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said: "It’s not surprising that one of the local authorities opposed to the Trade Union Bill is in an area where the First Minister’s mother is Provost.
"Once again, this screams cronyism and shows the SNP would be very content to have Scotland become much like a one-party state.
"The UK government is introducing fundamental reforms to modernise trade union law, a move which is welcomed and well overdue."
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