Passing-on: When the company gives the benefits and improvements that the union wins to non-members.

Free-riding: When an employee on a site covered by a union decides not to join the union while receiving the benefits and improvements that the union wins.

WHAT'S OUR VIEW ON PASSING ON IN THE RESTAURANTS?

There is no law Unite can use to stop employers passing on improvements to non-union employees. The problematic thing about passing-on and free-riding is that when the union makes serious improvements in workplaces, and the boss gives these improvements to non-members, it makes some people feel they do not need to join the union. This makes the union less effective in the long-run. Whenever the union negotiates, the main question on the employer's mind is 'What percentage of my employees are in the union?' If there is low membership the union has less ability to make change.

Over the last few years this has been made clear in our industry. In Burger King, where there is lower union membership, the conditions are way below the conditions in KFC and Pizza Hut where union membership is high.

Many unions are very hostile to free-riders (the non-union employees who receive union benefits). In the restaurants Unite has a different approach. While we discourage free-riding, we also accept that restaurants had no union for decades before Unite started its campaign to re-unionise restaurants in 2004. This means that we accept that it will take some years before Unite is able to fully entrench itself in the restaurant industry. After more years of consistently proving ourselves, time-and-time again, Unite will win more respect and prominence. In the meantime we do seek to win some benefits in the union contract that apply only to union members.