UK unions seek legal review of government’s strike-breaking laws
Trade unions have launched legal proceedings against the UK government, arguing that new laws allowing companies to use agency workers to break strikes are a “broad daylight” attack on the right to take industrial action.
Eleven trade unions, led by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), have sought permission for a judicial review of new regulations making the change.
The government brought forward the new regulations in July amid an increased number of strikes this year held by workers ranging from barristers to dockers and train drivers. It comes amid a cost of living crisis that has led to increased pay demands by workers.
The new prime minister, Liz Truss, this summer responded to strikes with a pledge of “tough and decisive action to limit trade unions’ ability to paralyse our economy” within her first 30 days of taking office – although that promise may have been delayed by the mourning period for the Queen. The chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and the business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, have also repeatedly promised action to weaken unions’ power.
The unions that have joined the legal action include Aslef and RMT, which have staged a series of strikes by transport workers that have severely affected the UK rail network this summer, as well as the manufacturing workers’ unions GMB and Unite, the teachers’ union the NEU, and civil servants’ unions the FDA and PCS.
They argue that the government failed in its legal duty to consult unions before the agency workers change, and that the regulations “violate fundamental trade union rights protected by article 11 of the European convention on human rights”.
The plan to allow companies to use agency workers to break strikes faced heavy criticism from opposition MPs, as well as from the
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