Neil Todd, partner, trade union law group, Thompsons Solicitors, explains
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act allows employers to serve “work notices” on trade unions calling strike action in “relevant services”.
Work notices identify which workers are required to work during the period industrial action is due to take place and what work they must undertake.
If a union does not take “all reasonable steps” to ensure members identified in the work notice comply, it will lose its legal immunity in respect of the industrial action, meaning an employer can apply for an injunction to stop the strike and can make a claim in damages from the union; non-complying workers will lose automatic protection from dismissal.
The only requirement on the government when making “minimum service regulations” is that it consults persons it considers “appropriate” before deciding on what the level should be. Therefore there is no limitation on what minimum service is required.
What this means is that the government is giving itself sweeping powers to curtail the activities of unions in relevant services and restrict a vital right of working people.
At the time of writing the government had laid minimum service regulations in passenger rail transport, ambulance and border security services. It had not yet laid any regulations in fire and rescue, but the Act enables it to do so. This pernicious legislation undermines the right to take effective strike action in areas the regulations cover.
