AN industrial dispute in Newry is more bad news for Sinn Féin’s Good Jobs Bill, currently held up in the Executive by the DUP.

Forty staff at Haldane and Fisher are striking for higher pay. The company has praised those staff for “conducting themselves peacefully and respectfully”, but it has accused Unite the Union “and other parties who are not part of our workforce” of intimidating staff, suppliers and customers crossing the picket line.

Unite strenuously denies this, but in political terms it does not matter who is right or wrong. The story will exacerbate fears across the business community about the trade union provisions in the Bill, which include making it easier to arrange a strike and giving unions a right of access to business premises.

Anyone who has spoken to business groups about the Bill will have been struck by their particular horror at the access rights.

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This is partly fear of deliberate agitation and partly a sense of personal violation.

Most businesses in Northern Ireland are small and their owners consider the premises to be almost part of their homes. They are........

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