Peers must vote to stop frontline workers getting sacked for exercising their right to strike
- Amendment to stop frontline workers being sacked for defending their pay and conditions to be voted on by peers today
The TUC has today (Wednesday) urged peers to stop frontline workers getting sacked for exercising their right to strike by voting for an amendment on the anti-Strikes Bill.
The call comes as the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is set to be debated in the House of Lords today.
The amendment says that failure to comply with a work notice “shall not be regarded as a breach of the contract of employment” and “shall not constitute lawful grounds for dismissal or any other detriment”.
If passed without the amendment, the Bill will mean that when workers lawfully vote to strike in health, education, fire, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning, they could be forced to attend work – and sacked if they don’t comply.
The EHRC recently warned that the legislation could see all striking workers in affected sectors losing their unfair dismissal protection as whole strikes could be deemed illegal.
The TUC has accused the government of going “from clapping to sacking key workers”.
The union body is also calling on peers to support the following amendments today:
- Exempting Scotland and Wales;
- Calling for powers to only be implemented following extensive consultation on impact assessments by committees of both houses;
- Removing the threat that unions could face injunctions or damages if they are deemed not to have taken “reasonable” steps to get members to work during strike action.
Rammed through the UK Parliament
The TUC says the UK government has failed to come clean about the draconian nature of the Bill – and has accused ministers of “shortcutting” normal scrutiny procedures and “ramming” the Bill through parliament.
The Bill will give ministers the power to impose new minimum service levels through regulation.
But consultations on how these regulations will work have not been published, and MPs have been given few details on how minimum service levels are intended to operate.
The House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee recently criticised the Bill for giving blanket powers to UK ministers while providing virtually no detail.
The Bill has also faced a barrage of criticism from civil liberties organisations, the EHRC, the Joint Committee on Human Rights, race and gender equalities groups, CIPD, and the NHS employers body, employment lawyers – and a whole host of other organisations.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:
“It’s time for the government to ditch this Bill for good and protect the right to strike.
“No one should be sacked for trying to win a better deal at work.
“This draconian legislation would mean that when workers democratically vote to strike, they could be forced to work and sacked if they don’t comply.
“Ministers have gone from clapping to sacking key workers. It’s plain wrong – peers must do everything that they can to stop it.
“That means voting for today’s amendment which will prevent nurses, teachers, firefighters and other public sector workers getting sacked for exercising their right to strike.
“Every peer who praised key workers during pandemic now has the chance to show they really meant it.”
