PM Sunak’s new anti-trade union legislation will make the UK one of the most difficult countries in the world to go on strike, a group of top employment lawyers have said.
Ten academic experts in employment law said the enforcement of ‘minimum service levels’ in sectors such as health, transport and schools would make the UK an international pariah state.
Sunak’s laws represented a ‘departure from established norms and treaty obligations’, they insisted.
The TUC, the ‘organising body for trade unions’ has pledged to fight the new laws in the courts. They intend to obey the law and limit the struggle as do legal experts such as Alan Bogg, professor of labour law at the University of Bristol, and Keith Ewing, professor of public law at King’s College London. They say: ‘In our view the proposed Minimum Service Levels Bill would place an unacceptable restriction on a worker’s right to take strike action to defend their terms and conditions of employment.’
They said ministers would have ‘largely unfettered power’ to impose minimum service levels and therefore determine how far workers can lawfully exercise their freedom to strike. It gives employers the ability to requisition striking workers if their sector is covered by minimum service level restrictions, and trade unions would have a duty to take reasonable steps to ensure workers comply with a directive to carry on working through industrial action.
The strikes bill will soon return to the House of Lords for its final stages.
In response to the legal experts joint statement, Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said: ‘This is a damning assessment of the government’s strikes bill. Make no mistake – these new laws are a naked power grab that will allow ministers to severely restrict the right to strike.
‘This spiteful legislation would mean that when workers democratically vote to strike, they can be forced to work and sacked if they don’t comply.
‘Compulsory work notices during strikes will place a huge strain on employer and union relations and will do nothing to help resolve disputes. The Conservatives cannot legislate away worker dissatisfaction.’
Some trade unions have been more defiant in their opposition to the proposed new legislation, with the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) calling for a concerted campaign of mass demonstrations.
Last week, Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the FBU, urged a coordinated campaign among trade unions of ‘mass non-cooperation and non-compliance’ against the Minimum Service Levels Bill.
However, much more than that is required for taking on a vicious Tory government which is now bringing in savage measures that will drive up the cost of living to pauperise the working class.
Tory tax increases are on the way that will pauperise workers and youth.
The average council tax bill will exceed £2,000 for the first time after local authorities in England were allowed to raise levies by a maximum of 5% without holding a local referendum.
The Office for Budget Responsibility says that the Exchequer will receive £44.4 billion in tax from Council Tax in 2023-4, up from £42.1bn Council Tax last year.
Water and sewage bills in England and Wales will rise by 7.5% to an average of £448 according to the trade body Water UK, while NHS prescriptions will rise by 3.3% and cost £9.65.
This is not enough for the bosses. On Saturday, the Daily Telegraph demanded: ‘Are there bold plans to reform the public sector, to challenge the bottomless money pit of the NHS, to demand that services are delivered in a smarter fashion? Or, is there instead a view that the best way to keep a leaky bucket full is to pour more water into it?’ It wants the NHS to be smashed!
There is only one way out of the crisis.
The FBU, Unite and all of the major trade unions must insist that the TUC call a special Congress to fight the new anti-union laws and to defend the NHS. This means that the trade unions must call a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers government to go forward to socialism.
Call the General Strike – Bring Down the Tories – forward to the Socialist United States of Europe!
