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Protect the right to strike! Usdaw urges the Government to drop their anti-union Bill after the ILO voices concerns

Date: 21 June 2023 Retail trade union Usdaw is calling on the Government to drop their Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill and break the deadlock on this controversial measure. Today (21 June) the House of Commons will consider the amendments made to the bill by Peers for a second time, as the parliamentary ‘ping-pong’ continues.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations (UN) agency, said the UK needed to “ensure that existing and prospective legislation is in conformity” with international rules on freedom of association and added that the Government must seek technical assistance from the agency’s experts.

Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “The alarm bells should be ringing in ministers’ ears after a rare intervention by the ILO, which amounts to an embarrassing criticism of the Government’s approach. Their concerns must be taken seriously and this Bill needs to at least be paused while ILO advice is sought, if not dropped altogether.

“Today the House of Commons is considering again the amendments from the House of Lords. Usdaw supports Peers’ changes, but we still believe this legislation is fundamentally flawed and should be rejected. This anti-union legislation means that when workers democratically vote to strike, they could be forced to work and sacked if they don’t.

“That is undemocratic, unworkable and we believe illegal. It is a direct attack on working people’s fundamental right to strike to defend their pay, along with other terms and conditions. It is essential that we protect the right to strike. So, we urge the Government to step back from this unwanted legislation, which seeks to undermine workers’ rights and industrial relations.”

Notes for editors:

Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk

Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill would allow ministers, by regulation, to impose minimum service levels on services during strikes in six sectors, including schools, the NHS, fire, rail and transport. A work notice issued by the employer would name those individuals required to work and the duties to be undertaken. Those workers deemed to have breached a work notice would lose the legal protection usually given to strikers and could be sacked.

At the House of Lords report stage of the Bill, a combination of Labour, Lib Dem, crossbench peers and bishops voted in support of amendments that tempered the worst bits of this terrible legislation. The House Commons only accepted a Government amendment, so that an employer must not have regard in respect of trade union membership and activities when deciding whether to identify a person in a work notice. All amendments from the Lords were rejected by Conservative MPs. As the so-called ‘ping-pong’ continued, Peers decided to press their amendments and voted a second time for: