GMB union representatives sent template emails beginning "Dear CEO" to thousands of company chiefs at 12.03am on 30 October, minutes after new workers' rights rules came into effect, the Sunday Times has reported. The coordinated move marks the opening salvo in organised labour's effort to capitalise on provisions of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, amended under the Labour government's employment reforms.

What did the midnight emails demand?

The messages informed chief executives of their employees' legal rights to access trade unions, according to the reports. GMB, one of the country's largest unions, representing hundreds of thousands of workers, asked bosses to "meet, recruit or organise workers" as soon as the legal rights took effect.

The union also asserted its right to invite all staff to online meetings conducted during work hours. Under the new rules, employers face ongoing distribution obligations rather than one-off notifications.

"Each week, the GMB will provide one item of union information (for example, a message, bulletin, short video, poster or link). The employer will distribute it, in full and in a stand-alone format, to all workers," the email said, according to reports.

Which channels must employers use?

Chief executives were told that union communications must travel through channels a company "normally uses". The reports cited four concrete examples:

• Email
• Company intranet
• Slack
• Microsoft Teams

The requirement to distribute one item of union information every week, in full and in stand-alone format, converts corporate internal communication systems into a regular conduit for organised labour messaging.

How divided is the response to the reforms?

The new workers' rights legislation has split businesses and trade unions since its passage. The government held crunch negotiations over so-called day one rights, which would have allowed former employees to sue bosses for unfair dismissal from the start of employment. The standoff produced a compromise rather than a clean victory for either side.

The Office for Budget Responsibility said in October that the new employment rights act would likely damage hiring levels, although the fiscal watchdog did not reach a full assessment. Internal government research, separately, showed that workers themselves preferred access to zero hours contracts, complicating the political narrative around the reforms.

What has GMB said publicly?

A spokesperson for GMB defended the campaign in combative terms: "Good employers know they have nothing to fear from workers having a voice. Those kicking up a fuss might want to ask themselves why they are so frightened of their own staff having the right to speak to a trade union."

The spokesperson framed the changes as economically consequential rather than narrowly procedural. "These common-sense reforms will give people a stronger voice at work. They will help rebalance our economy so that everyone can benefit, not just those at the top," the spokesperson said.

Why does the timing matter?

The 12.03am timestamp signals a deliberate strategy. By targeting chief executives' inboxes within minutes of the legal change, GMB established that it intends to enforce the new access rights immediately and at scale, rather than gradually.

For employers, the practical burden begins now: weekly union information items, distributed in full, through whichever internal channels staff already use. Thousands of CEOs received that instruction before breakfast on 30 October.