The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 13th January 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 13th January 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
TUESDAY saw the Tory Government unveil its latest anti-trade union law with the first reading of a Bill which demands that public sector services maintain a minimum service level (MSL) during strike action. This was promised in their 2019 General Election manifesto (at least with regard to public transport). The same document also promised to abolish ‘Fire-and -Rehire’ – but that has not been given such a high priority, despite ministerial promises made at the time of the P&O sackings.
These regulations have now been extended into the NHS, education, fire and rescue, border security and nuclear decommissioning. Details are as yet unclear but employers will be able to issue a “work notice” stating the workforce with workers named on the list would lose their present right from unfair dismissal for striking.
Business Secretary Grant Shapps piously claimed that the measures were similar to those on the continent, saying that he hoped the Government would “never have to use it”, and had the brass neck to assert it was not designed to ban strikes. He claimed that during the one-day ambulance strike this was not done, which is clearly nonsense as local agreements were put in place beforehand.
This point was speedily refuted by Sharon Graham of Unite, who said: “Grant Shapps is, as usual, economical with the truth. He is taking the worst practices from other countries but not those that actually assist workers. The evidence from abroad clearly shows this kind of legislation only forces unions to use other tactics, inflaming and prolonging disputes.”
She dismissed the move as “another dangerous gimmick from a Government that should be negotiating to resolve the current crisis they have caused”.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak pointed out the absurdity of a measure that “would mean that when workers democratically vote to strike, they can be forced to work and sacked if they don’t comply”. Although saying the TUC could mount a legal challenge, he naturally said nothing about encouraging any wider protests.
It was left to Mark Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to take a tougher line, saying the measure was aimed at his members.
definitely
He said that fire and rescue is the one area where MSLs will definitely be set. He clearly distrusts the government when it says MSLs will be a last resort. He also described the likely law as representing: “one of the most shameful attacks on the democratic rights and liberties of working people in decades … This is an attack on all workers – including key workers, who kept our public services going during the pandemic.
It’s an attack on Britain’s COVID heroes and on all workers. We need a mass movement of resistance to this authoritarian attack.”