Strikes in Britain’s Public Services: A Manifestation of Dysfunctional Employee-Employer Relations
A series of disruptive strikes, growing discontent among workers, and escalating strike action, drawing in hitherto uninvolved sectors of the public services, has evoked a decisive response from the UK Government, although not along the lines hoped for by striking workers and most certainly not intended to defuse tensions between the opposing parties. On 10 January 2023, Business Secretary Grant Shapps thus introduced new proposed legislation in the House of Commons, in the form of Strikes (Minimum Service Bill 2023)-applicable to England, Scotland, and Wales. The Bill soon passed its second reading on 16 January, by 309 votes to 249, which was to be expected given the size of the Conservative parliamentary majority.
The purpose of this new Bill is to set minimum service levels, yet to be specified, within six key public service sectors, including the health services, fire and rescue services, education services, transport services, decommissioning of nuclear installations and management of radioactive waste, and spent fuel, and border security. The government will initially consult on minimum service levels for ambulance, fire, and rail services. Under these proposed new regulations, employers will be empowered to issue a “work notice” to relevant trade unions involved in the dispute, ensuring that an as yet unspecified number of workers remain in post to ensure public safety and access to essential services. Any trade union violating these regulations would lose its statutory legal protection, while participating employees would no longer be automatically protected from unfair dismissal. It must be noted that existing ‘limb and life’ provisions of the Trades Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 already protect life-sustaining activities during strikes. Apart from potential legal threats were this Bill to become law, the opposition Labour Party has declared its intent, were it to come to power, to strike down any ensuing Act of Parliament. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has felt sufficiently aggrieved to declare a national ‘protect the right to strike’ on 1 February.
Trade unions were once a major force to be reckoned with in British politics, from the 19th century onwards. The TUC, the only trade union confederation in the UK, dates back to 1868, while trade unions were first recognised under the Trade Union Act 1871. For a period of time after the Second World War, trade unions had a symbiotic relationship with the government. Things later went from bad to worse. Trade union membership fell rapidly during the 1980s and the early 1990s, in the aftermath of the turmoil of industrial unrest during the 1970s, culminating in the Winter of Discontent of 1978-79, only to pick up again from the late 1990s onwards.
Individual trade unions are fully independent, with 48 of them affiliated to the TUC, which serves as an umbrella organisation. The largest TUC-affiliated unions- Unite, UNISON, and GMB- bring together workers from many different sectors of the economy, in both the public sector and private companies. Some smaller unions are linked to specific occupations, industries, or even a single company. Two large unions from the remainder are not affiliated to the TUC or any other body: the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
The ties between the Labour Party and the trade unions have weakened over time, The TUC itself is not affiliated to the Labour Party, and only around half of its membership belongs to unions linked to Labour. Despite a loss of influence over Party policy, affiliated unions remain the single largest source of Party funds, can vote at Party conferences and serve on the National Executive Committee. Trade unions that undertake collective bargaining on behalf of their members have to be recognised, either formally (legal and statutory) or informally (voluntary), by the relevant employers. After several updates of the law, much trade union activity now comes under the purview of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, which will be amended if the present Bill were to be passed. In recent years, trade union powers have been restricted by the Trade Unions Act 2017, to prevent “undemocratic action”, while the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022 has enabled use of agency staff to substitute for striking workers and help break strikes.
Strikes are a consequence of broken industrial relations. There is, however, no legal right to strike under UK law, even though it is considered a fundamental human right under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Almost all strike action can indeed be considered a breach of employment contract. At present, public sector employees in the UK, other than police officers, members of the armed forces, and some prison officers, are allowed to go on strike after certain conditions are met. A recognised trade union is allowed to ask its members to either withhold their services altogether, or adopt disruptive ‘go-slow’ or ‘work to rule’, tactics. These actions can only take place after a lawful statutory ballot over an ongoing trade dispute, which in the current season of strikes relates to demands for inflation-linked pay settlements and to matters concerning terms and conditions of employment.
Striking workers can have up to one fifth of weekly pay deducted for each day’s strike action.
Much has been written about conflict resolution. It is widely accepted that a constructive and collaborative approach, characterised by information sharing, shared decision making, an element of ‘give and take’, and management by consent is far preferable to management by diktat. Good consumer service, productivity, creativity, and the like need a motivated, suitably supported, adequately remunerated workforce, rather than one whose members are disengaged and not suitably recompensed for their efforts. Catch-up pay rises, within limits, will not necessarily lead to the much feared wage-price inflation spiral, discredited by many economists, but will instead allow workers to plough back at least part of their newly boosted incomes to support their local economies.
The present spate of strikes is the direct result of the unfortunate coincidence of double-digit inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. Unfortunately, a breakdown in negotiations has led the government to adopt an entrenched position, based on claims that pay rises as demanded by the unions are both “unreasonable” and “unaffordable.” A war of attrition looms ahead, in which all involved parties will inevitably suffer- strikers, employers, the government, and above all the end-users of affected services-further impeding Britain’s economic recovery. The national interest is probably best served if a negotiated settlement can be reached sooner rather than later, maybe at some midway point, rather than by holding back and letting the situation play itself out to an unsatisfactory conclusion.
Ashjs Banerjee