[ad_1]
Piles of undelivered mail were growing on Friday as Royal Mail workers began six more days of UK-wide industrial action.
As public sector workers from nurses, ambulance crews and driving instructors to jobcentre staff prepare to join picket lines over pay, the government is threatening a renewed clampdown on unions’ ability to call strikes.
Train operators and unions must strike a deal this weekend to avoid chaos on the railway over Christmas, industry figures have warned. Meanwhile troops have begun training at London’s main airport to replace Border Force officers who will be away for most of the holiday period.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the Financial Times on Friday that there could be no concessions on public sector pay, while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised “hard new rules” to make it harder for unions to strike.
But lawyers say UK rules are already restrictive, and tightening them further could have the opposite effect.
What did the government do to stop the strike?
Unions say they already operate under one of the most restrictive regimes in the developed world, following a 2016 law that set high thresholds for votes on industrial action and strict rules on holding ballots.
Since the latest wave of walkouts began, ministers have rushed through measures allowing employers to force agency workers to break strikes and to seek damages of up to £1mn from unions if strikes are deemed to be illegal.
These measures have made it difficult to organize effective action, but they have not prevented unions from winning a strong mandate to strike from thousands of public and private sector workers.
Bruce Carr, QC, who led a review of the laws governing industrial relations for the then prime minister David Cameron in 2014, told the BBC this week that ministers had, if anything, made the situation worse by piling on additional restrictions.
“If you force people who have a legitimate grievance . . . into a corner, you’re just going to push the controversy in a different direction. You’re not going to take it,” he said.
What other steps is she considering?
Long-awaited legislation to guarantee “minimum service levels” on railways during strikes will reach its second reading in the new year, Downing Street has indicated.
The bill was first promised in the 2019 Conservative general election manifesto but was only introduced to parliament in late October, with ministers blaming the delay on the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sunak’s team has suggested that the government may accelerate the proposed law and expand it to cover sectors other than transport, although details have not been forthcoming.
But Transport Secretary Mark Harper admitted this week that the legislation could not be implemented in time to affect the current dispute between the RMT union and employers.
Downing Street gave no other details of the “tougher rules” promised by Sunak. But business secretary Grant Shapps – who clashed with the RMT in his previous role as transport secretary – this summer set out a “16-point plan” to take on unions, which is likely to underpin the current government’s thinking.
Schaps’ proposals include setting a higher threshold for strike ballots to pass in the public and private sectors; requiring unions to give further notice of walkouts; Strict rules on sit-ins; and makes it easier for employers to bypass unions and offer workers direct pay.
Will these steps work?
Industry figures say minimum service levels, once in place, will help depending on where they are set. Mathieu Lesche, head of public policy at the Institute of Economic Affairs, a right-wing think-tank, said similar legislation was already in place in Spain, France and Italy and would “effectively limit the ability of workers to strike without facing dismissal, because They are currently allowed.”
But unions will fiercely oppose this and other measures they see as an attack on the fundamental right to strike.
Kate Bell, assistant general secretary of the Trade Union Congress, the UK’s main movement for organized labour, said there would be “no easy answers” if the government wanted to go further.
She said Shapes’ proposals would likely require primary legislation which would be challenged in the House of Lords and could breach the UK’s commitments on workers’ rights under trade agreements with the EU.
Richard Arthur, head of trade union law at Thompson Solicitors, which is seeking a judicial review of the new rule on agency workers, said it would leave the government open to further legal challenges if it followed suit in breach of International Labor Organization standards.
“The more you fall in terms of restrictions. . . Further you leave yourself open to prosecution at the Strasbourg court,” Kerr said.
[ad_2]
Source link
