As the last of the party political conferences before the general election came to a close, the issue of trade union power seemed destined to become an election issue.

The possibility of furth er restraints on industrial action was raised at the Conservative party conference, while the Labour party stuck to its policy of firmness not favours with a package of reforms, set out in the party's 'Building prosperity', which the Liberal Democrats consider not to be sufficient.The latest proposals by the Conservative party were announced at its conference by the president of the Board of Trade, Ian Lang.

He noted that most of the days lost through industrial action over the last 12 months were on the railways, on the underground, within the Post Office and within the fire service.

To deal with this problem, the old policy of prohibiting strikes in essential services was explored by the Conservatives over the summer during the postal and underground strikes but was still found to be wanting because of the technical difficulties of defining an essential service.The initiative by the Conservatives is intended to overcome such difficulties by being restricted to 'public service monopolies'.

Mr Lang maintains that industrial action would not be banned in these sectors but that members of the public would be able to claim damages if the action taken by a union was 'disproportionate'.

The government has promised a consultation document soon and possibly a Bill in early 1997, although this proposal would seem to have many technical difficulties to overcome; for example, the definition of a public service monopoly.Less likely to make any further progress is a proposal that was contained in the first annual report of the Department of Trade and Industry's Deregulation Task Force in September.

This proposal would remove the right to claim unfair dismissal from those people who are employed by businesses that employ fewer than ten people.

It would affect 90% of businesses and 15% of the work-force.The Labour party's employment team has been concentrating on training and job creation.

The team attempted both to distance itself from the unions and retain their support.

Conference resolutions to repeal all employment laws introduced by the Conservatives were defeated but the increasingly fragile relationship with the trade unions survived.

Until recently, the Labour party's policies on trade unions have been difficult to ascertain but some of the views contained in recent speeches have been collected in the pre-manifesto publication, 'Building prosperity: flexibility, efficiency and fairness at work' (see below).

There is no reference in this document to the removal of all qualifying periods to claim employment protection rights, an idea expressed in earlier speeches but now apparently dropped.

Instead, there are fine-sounding statements of objectives, for example: 'To establish a framework of minimum standards in the labour market and at the work place which seek both to support proper flexibility and provide protection against unfair treatment.'The language of the publication is guarded but the indications are clear.

While most of the ideas are conspicuous for their lack of exactitude, there is no ambiguity on the core political issue.

Ballots before industrial actions will remain.

The document states: 'The old approach of trade union immunities is gone.' Among the ideas put forward by the Liberal Democrats are a reduction in the qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection from two years to one year and the possible dilution of the strict liability of unions for unauthorised industrial action taken by members in certain circumstances.While trade unions welcomed the proposals contained in 'Building prosperity', many consid er that they do not go far enough to redress the imbalance in many work places.

For them, an entirely new framework of industrial law would be attractive and trade union talk of a new Donovan Commission is beginning to emerge.

This was set up by a Labour government and produced a report in 1968 which was the seminal work on industry throughout the 1970s.

As a fascinating taste of such a new framework of industrial law, the Institute of Employment Rights has just published Working Life.An issue that requires early review is the statutory balloting procedures.

Ballots before industrial action will remain but many consider that these should be 'fair ballots' and not overly technical devices, which seem designed to trip up a union's administration rather than test the democratic wishes of its members.KEY POLICIES IN LABOUR'S 'BUILDING PROSPERITY'-- A national minimum wage set by a Low Pay Commission.-- A right of trade union recognition on the issues of pay, hours, holidays and training where a majority of the relevant workforce votes for union representation.-- A right to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing.-- A right not to be unfairly dismissed while taking lawful industrial action.-- A right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of age.-- The removal of the requirement for trade unions to have their members sign every three years to authorise the payroll deduction of subscriptions.-- The right of trade union members not to be discriminated against by their employer on the grounds of union membership.-- To sign the Social Chapter.-- To establish a statutory framework for training.-- To review the procedures of industrial tribunals.-- To examine how people can be protected from such abuses as zero-hour contracts, franchising and bogus self-employed status.