This week sees the start of the Trades Union bill passing through parliament. This is a bill that has raised many complaints from trades unions, but little, it seems, from the general public.

Key to the bill is the level of turnout for union members voting to strike. Recent teachers’ strikes have been called by less than 30% of the members voting to strike. When you consider the disruption to parents and to parents’ employers, it is extraordinary to think that so few people can create so much havoc.

The TUC argues that limiting the power of unions is undemocratic. Yet key to this bill is a simple requirement that 50% of those who are eligible to vote need to do so in order for a strike to be called. After all, it seems perfectly reasonable that at least half the members of a union, who are about to strike and cause disruption, should actually care enough about the issue to go and vote on it. The outcome is pretty straightforward as it simply requires more than 50% to support a vote in a simple binary ballot. So as few as 25% of the membership of a union, plus one, can secure a strike – a strike that can cause real hardship to many people who may lose a day’s work as a result of the union’s actions. Given that those who are affected by a strike are not given the chance to vote in the ballot as to whether a strike can take place or not, this seems only fair to the many who suffer as a result.

The unions are, by and large, a useful organisation to make sure that employees get a fair deal. They have been a force for good over the last hundred years or so as they have helped shape employment laws that make working conditions so much better than they were even within most of our lifetimes. They still form an incredibly important part of modern working life, helping staff who need help (although, in my experience, this can be a bit patchy). But it is simply not acceptable to have a small minority of members calling the shots not just on the wider union membership, but also the wider community. Tube strikes in London devastate the capital for a day. That is why this bill deals with a load of issues that need tackling.