A political row has broken out over a letter to businesses receiving emergency Covid-funding from Welsh Government.
Welsh Government launched the Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) to support businesses in Wales during the coronavirus crisis - helping save firms and secure jobs.
In the letter to businesses who have received ERF support, Economy Minister Ken Skates says: "Every worker has a legal right to join a trade union, and we expect employers who receive public funds to allow trade unions access and seek a recognition agreement where workers request it."
This has been attacked by Darren Millar MS – the Conservative Shadow Minister for Tourism and Covid Recovery.
He said: "Any suggestion that businesses must have a unionised workplace in order to access Welsh Government grants is totally unacceptable and the assertion that employers who don’t recognise unions are unfair to their employees is insulting.
“Instead of being preoccupied with filling the ranks of their party’s major donors, the Welsh Labour-led Government ought to be focusing its attention on helping businesses to survive to protect the livelihoods of their employees during this unprecedented and uncertain time.”
He added: “The Labour Party should stop bullying businesses, apologise for strongarming them, and give them the support they need to protect jobs.”
Conservative MS Janet Finch-Saunders, Chairman of the Cross Party Group on Small Shops, added that Mr Skates should be focused on delivering Rapid Reaction (Local Lockdown) fund rather than creating “a socialist utopia”.
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But Welsh Government hit back.
A spokesperson for Economy Minister Ken Skates said: “This is a shameful and disappointing attempt by the Tories to peddle an untruth. It is also a clear indication of their hunger to tear up the rights of working people.
“In contrast, the Welsh Labour Government is committed to working with employers and trade unions to change people’s working lives for the better.
"We make no apology for that, or for our social partnership approach, which during the coronavirus pandemic has been hugely valuable.
"Nobody is coercing any individual or any business.
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"The letter sets out a clear statement of people’s legal rights to join a trade union; to seek a recognition agreement where they request it and the expectations of those in receipt of public funds, who have agreed to the principles of the Economic Contract.
"The rest is just Tory scaremongering.”