Union Rage as Government Legislates for Minimum Service Bill

e coming months are set to witness an unprecedented wave of nationwide industrial action, with strikes planned across all major industries. In return, the Government has put forth plans to legislate for a Minimum Service Bill - colloquially known as the ‘Anti Strike Bill’. If passed, the Bill would raise the threshold needed for workers to withdraw their labour, and would strip unions of the legal safeguards they have long enjoyed, exposing them to legal action taken by employers a ected by strikes. Additionally, the bill would legislate for the implementation of ‘Minimum Service Levels’, restricting the ability of those in key public services such as healthcare, education, and transport to take industrial action. ose opposed to the Bill have argued that it represents an attack on the civil liberties of workers across the country, and have equally questioned whether the bill would even achieve its stated aims. Labours’ Angela Rayner, labelled the bill ‘One of the most indefensible and foolish pieces of legislation in recent times.’ e Bill would impact workers across 6 main industries: e bill sits against the backdrop of an increasingly protracted stalemate between the government and the unions, with little progress being made towards a negotiated settlement. Unions have stated that they are open to discussions with the government; Pat Cullen, General Secretary of e Royal College of Nurses, asserted that she was willing to ‘press pause’ on strikes, if the government was willing to discuss a pay rise for her members. e government has consistently reasserted that pay is not up for negotiation considering the current pressure on public nances, and claims to have given the National Health Service its biggest funding increase since New Labour.

Health, Fire and Rescue, Education, Border Security, Nuclear decommissioning, and Transport. Business Secretary Grant Shapps, the Minister responsible for the bill’s passing, has argued that the new powers would bring an end to an ‘unacceptable postcode lottery of public services, restoring the balance between those seeking to strike, and protecting the public from disproportionate disruption to daily life’.

In light of the government’s apparent intransigence, those opposed to their stance have questioned whether they had purposely drawn out negotiations to lay the groundwork for the passing of the Minimum Service Bill. Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress - a body representing the majority of union members across the country, called the proposed legislation ‘an attack on working people’, adding that he and his members would ‘ ght the legislation every step of the way’. Similarly, Secretary General of the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport workers, Mick Lynch - a gure who has risen to prominence recently for his combative defence of workers’ rights - added ‘this latest legislation is an attack on civil rights, and an attack on human rights, there can be no freedom without free unions’.

With the recent announcement that the UCU has agreed to 18 days of industrial action on campus, and the escalation of action on the part of Healthcare workers, it appears that the current wave of strikes are set to extend long into the spring. e Minimum Service Bill represents the biggest attempted restriction of workers’ liberties in recent times. Whilst it remains uncertain whether the bill’s stated aims will be converted into a working reality, it is without doubt that industrial relations have reached their lowest point since atcher.