𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Small businesses could be forced to hold weekly union-organised net zero campaign sessions under Labour’s controversial Employment Rights Act. Analysis of Government proposals and internal trade union documents reveals firms with just 21 staff could be compelled to give union activists access every week to sign up new members through climate activism.

The staggering plans would see unions granted the right to enter workplaces for “generating momentum” behind recruitment drives – with green campaigning identified as a key growth area. Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith last night condemned the scheme as “yet another headwind for hard-pressed small business”, branding it Labour’s “union right to roam”.

He said: “Whether under the cloak of net zero or otherwise, [the Act] is yet another headwind for hard-pressed small business.” Former Treasury Minister Alan Mak slammed the move as well saying it’s another Labour attack on small businesses from a Government focused more on placating their union paymasters than supporting wealth-creators”

A dossier seen by the Express lays bare Government plans to help unions with “regular contact with workers” and support them in “generating momentum” in language union bosses have welcomed as an open invitation to recruit new members. Several trade unions view climate activism as a major recruitment tool, with UNISON describing it as “an organising and recruitment opportunity” and a “membership growth area” in a 2025 document.

The Trades Union Congress Workplace Manual notes that recruitment can “result from union involvement in the environmental agenda”. Last year, Labour MPs passed the Employment Rights Act, initially championed by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, which included a statutory right of trade unions to access workplaces.

Government consultation documents propose that weekly access is a “reasonable requirement” for employers to facilitate. Officials said this would “provide trade unions with regular contact with workers” and help unions “develop relationships with workers and assist them in generating momentum behind a future recognition bid”.

Crucially, the rules would apply to all businesses with 21 or more workers, well below the 50-worker threshold normally used to define small businesses. Campaigners are calling for SME’s to be exempt from the right to roam rule. John Longworth, former director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, warned that the Act had “all sorts of potential implications,” including forcing employers to accept unions and the policies that come with them.

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He said the outcome would be “to the detriment of wealth creation, jobs and personal freedom”. Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty branded the law “a disaster for SMEs”, warning it would allow unions “to force entry to businesses and host net zero themed membership recruitment sessions”.

He called this “salt in the wound” for a sector already reeling from tax hikes brought in by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

Elliot Keck of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Small businesses are already drowning under higher taxes, soaring energy costs and endless regulation. The idea that they could now be forced to host union-run net zero campaigning sessions is an extraordinary abuse of power.”

He urged ministers to back entrepreneurs instead of “handing trade unions new powers to impose ideological campaigns on workplaces”.

Whitehall officials are consulting on whether the controversial right would apply to businesses with just 21 staff, with responses due shortly.

A Government spokesman said: “It’s not true that the Employment Rights Act will allow unions to turn up to workplaces when they want. It allows employers and unions to negotiate and agree what works best, and it is ultimately up to unions and their members what they choose to discuss during any meetings that take place.”