Category: agency workers

Ministers should fix the country rather than reheat failed anti-union laws

Commenting on the launch of a government consultation into allowing agency workers to cover for people who are on strike, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said today (Thursday):

“The government would be better off tackling the real issues facing the country, not wasting more valuable time picking fights with unions.

“This pointless policy has already been defeated in the courts. Ministers should concentrate on tackling the cost of living crisis, improving wages and fixing run-down public services.

“Or better still, call an election and let someone else do the job.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contacts:
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
Dan Ashley M: 07908 672893 E: d.ashley@unison.co.uk

The article Ministers should fix the country rather than reheat failed anti-union laws first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Ministers should fix the country rather than reheat failed anti-union laws

Commenting on the launch of a government consultation into allowing agency workers to cover for people who are on strike, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said today (Thursday):

“The government would be better off tackling the real issues facing the country, not wasting more valuable time picking fights with unions.

“This pointless policy has already been defeated in the courts. Ministers should concentrate on tackling the cost of living crisis, improving wages and fixing run-down public services.

“Or better still, call an election and let someone else do the job.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contacts:
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
Dan Ashley M: 07908 672893 E: d.ashley@unison.co.uk

The article Ministers should fix the country rather than reheat failed anti-union laws first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Strike-breaking legislation is unlawful, argues UNISON in High Court

General Secretary Christina McAnea (centre) with UNISON’s legal team outside the High Court this week

UNISON is challenging the government this week over regulations that allow employers to hire agency staff to replace striking workers.

Alongside the NASUWT and TUC, whose case is on behalf of eleven unions, UNISON asks that the High Court declares the government’s removal of regulation on agency workers unlawful. Together, the unions represent millions of workers in the UK.

Since 1976, it has been illegal for employers to introduce or supply agency workers to replace workers who are taking part in a strike or industrial action.

However, in the heat of last summer’s rail strikes, then Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng rapidly removed this regulation without consulting trade unions. 

Since July 2022, agencies have been permitted to supply temporary workers to replace striking workers.

UNISON, the TUC and NASUWT argue that this is unlawful on two grounds: firstly, that trade unions were not fairly consulted by the government on these measures. Secondly, that the removal of this regulation amounts to an unlawful interference with workers’ right to strike.

Change without consultation

The Conservative government’s intention to allow employers to undermine strikes with agency workers was first included in their 2015 manifesto, with a declaration to “repeal nonsensical restrictions banning employers from hiring agency staff to provide essential cover during strikes”. 

In 2015, the government ran a consultation on proposals to remove the regulation on replacing striking workers with agency workers, but did not progress the proposal.

It was not until 2022 – two governments later and no further mention of regulating strikes in subsequent manifestos – that the government decided to remove agency workers regulations without consulting unions. By that time, all unions faced significant limits to taking industrial action due to the Trade Union Act 2016.

The government claims that the 2015 consultation is sufficient, despite multiple new governments and major changes in the labour market since Brexit, COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis.  

Representing UNISON, Michael Ford KC said a “reliance on seven-year old consultation is so unfair as to be unlawful.”

In her witness statement, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea described how “ever since the financial crisis in 2008, the pay of our members has not kept pace with inflation, and it is this which is generating greater calls for industrial action.” 

Ms McAnea also described the significant negative impact of the Trade Union Act 2016 on the union’s ability to take strike action. 

Protecting the right to strike

The right to strike and engage in collective bargaining falls within article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is enshrined in UK law by the Human Rights Act. 

UNISON told the judge in a written case outline: “The replacement of strikers by agency labour has the potential to have a chilling effect, or render the right to strike illusory”. 

Given that taking strike action is such a core area of trade union activity, the unions believe that restrictions on the right to strike amount to a violation of article 11 ECHR.

The union also stated that the use of agency workers “defeats the very purpose of a strike, which is to place economic pressure on an employer.”

The case was heard this week at the Royal Courts of Justice. Mr Justice Linden has reserved judgment and is expected to make a decision on the case within the next month.

The article Strike-breaking legislation is unlawful, argues UNISON in High Court first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON takes the government to court over law allowing the use of agency workers to break strike

Legal action against the government over new regulations allowing agency workers to replace striking staff has been launched by UNISON.

The union issued proceedings with the High Court last week (13 September), triggering the start of a process seeking a judicial review of the government’s decision. UNISON is arguing that ministers’ changes are unlawful and should be axed.

Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has 21 days to respond from the date the case was lodged last Tuesday.

UNISON is arguing the government’s change to the Conduct Regulations 2003* is unfair and based on unreliable evidence. These regulations previously protected employees’ right to strike and ensured agency workers could not replace them.

The union is critical of ministers for using what it says are out-of-date and discredited findings from a 2015 consultation. The government did this to justify the change, which came into law this July.

UNISON’s legal team aims to show that the government has ignored Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights?. This protects the right to freedom of association and international labour standards on the right to strike, says the union.

Separately, the TUC is co-ordinating similar legal action involving 11 other unions to get the regulations scrapped. If UNISON and the TUC secure the court’s permission to proceed, it is likely all the arguments will be heard together.

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The government appears hell-bent on stripping ordinary working people of their historic rights and seems prepared to do anything to achieve that.

“Employees striking for better wages during a cost-of-living crisis is not the problem. Ministers should be rolling up their sleeves and helping solve disputes, not risking everyone’s safety by allowing the use of inexperienced agency workers.

“Changing the law in such a hostile and unpleasant way makes it much harder for workers to stand up to dodgy employers. It also risks limiting the impact of any legal strike.”

Notes to editors:
– The unions involved in the TUC’s action are ASLEF, BFAWU, FDA, GMB, NEU, NUJ, POA, PCS, RMT, Unite and Usdaw.
– *The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003.
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

The article UNISON takes the government to court over law allowing the use of agency workers to break strike first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Government plans to use agency workers to break strikes ?are dangerous and unlawfull

A new law allowing employers to use agency workers to replace striking staff during industrial disputes is to be challenged in the courts, UNISON has announced today (?Friday).

The UK’s largest union says it plans to take the government to court over the controversial change to the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003, which came into force yesterday (Thursday 21 July).

The union has written to business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng about its intention to seek a judicial review of the new regulations, which it believes are unlawful.

The secretary of state now has 14 days to respond, otherwise the union says it will take the government to the High Court to try to get the measure overturned.

The letter says the government’s reliance on a seven-year-old consultation and flawed evidence to justify changing the law is unlawful.

UNISON says it also intends to show that the government is in breach of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights?, which protects the right to strike, and international labour standards.

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The government is prepared do anything to stop strikes, except encourage dialogue and sensible industrial relations.

“Sending agency staff into disputes to break strikes will only fan the flames and make it harder for employers and unions to reach agreement.

“Ministers have been spooked by the sympathy people ?are showing for workers fighting for fair wages.* The government’s cynical solution is to ride a coach and horses through employment law, risking the safety of staff and the public by parachuting in agency workers who won’t know the ropes.

“Strikes are only ever a last resort, and often the only avenue left to employees in the face of hostile employers. Changing the law to make it harder for workers to win disputes is both reckless and unlawful. If ministers won’t back down, we’ll take the government to court to prove it.”

Notes to editors: 
-*Earlier this week, 13 of the UK’s health unions published polling undertaken by Savanta ComRes, which found that 58% of UK adults believe NHS workers would be justified in taking industrial action if the government’s pay award in England was below inflation.
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

 

 

The article Government plans to use agency workers to break strikes ?are dangerous and unlawfull first appeared on the UNISON National site.