Tory anti-union laws could be met with mass campaign of non-compliance

• Unions have “no choice” but to launch mass campaign of non-compliance against Minimum Service Levels Bill, says Fire Brigades Union leader in letter to other unions
• Trade union conference planned for autumn to discuss campaign to defy new laws
• Move comes as momentum builds for national demonstration

The government’s latest anti-union laws could be met with a mass campaign of non-compliance after they become law.

The Minimum Service Levels Bill would give employers and the government the power to compel workers in some sectors to work on strike days despite having a democratic mandate for industrial action.

In a letter to fellow trade union leaders today, Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said that the legislation was “one of the worst assaults on the rights of working people in Postwar Britain”, adding that “we have no choice but to build mass opposition to it, including developing a strategy of non-compliance and non-cooperation to make it unworkable

He wrote: “This campaign cannot be won by any union acting alone. We must act together to build a movement to defy and defeat this law.”

The Fire Brigades Union is now calling for a conference in the autumn to plan discuss the strategy and practicalities of such a campaign – putting the plan into action.

Momentum is also now building behind a national demonstration against the new laws, initiated by the RMT at its conference last week.

In his letter to fellow trade union general secretaries, Wrack argued that “with a national demonstration and a mass movement of non-compliance, we can build an alliance that can defeat this law in the streets and in the workplace.”