Anti-strike law can be passed in the UK

“I hope we can provide basic care to citizens even without implementing regulations” Business Secretary Grant Shapps was quoted as saying Watchman. The prime minister spoke about the bill, which was presented to parliament on Tuesday after negotiations between ministers and trade unions on Monday yielded no results in disputes related to wages and working conditions of nurses, teachers and nurses. Railway workers, in connection with the waves of strikes that have crippled the United Kingdom.

However, the anti-strike law would relieve pressure on the country’s economy by forcing individual sectors to guarantee a basic level of services even during a work stoppage.

The minister cited, for example, the health workers’ strike, during which the nurses’ union promised to provide the minimum necessary service for patient care, but the paramedics’ union was no longer willing to do so.

Still no agreement

Rishi Sunak’s government ministers laid out the possible foundations for an agreement in talks on Monday.

They agreed to discuss raising health care workers’ wages retroactively from April, as well as discussing the previously denied one-time compensation for the increase in the cost of living. At the same time, the fact that the government presented an anti-strike bill to the legislature the day after the negotiations could worsen the relationship between the government and the unions.

On the other hand, Minister Grant Shapps defended the new organizing plan by saying that the government wants to end the permanent strike. Referring to the railway workers’ strike, he said: “Looks like it’s turned into a permanent hit that we want to end.”.

As he said, the guarantee of certain minimum service levels is also legally regulated in Germany and France elsewhere.

They threaten more strikes

However, Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions, believes that by adopting the bill, the government risks further strikes. According to the general secretary, this legislation means workers may be forced to work even when they vote democratically to strike. They can be dismissed if they refuse to obey the law. This is not possible in a democratic form and is almost certainly against the law.

According to Nowak

If the legislature accepts the proposal, it is guaranteed to prolong conflicts between the government and the unions, poison labor relations, and lead to more frequent strikes.

Firefighters Union General Secretary Matt Warak said: “This is an attack on all workers – including the key workers who have kept our public services going during the pandemic. This is an attack on Britain’s Covid heroes and all workers. We need mass resistance to this authoritarian attack”.

Regarding the bill, the opposition Labor Party warned that the new regulation would allow employers to sue unions and dismiss workers. The Left Party promised to withdraw the law as soon as it came to power.

Featured image: Docker workers from a union unite to protest at the port of Felixstowe, eastern England, on August 21, 2022. About 1,900 dock workers have gone on strike in Felixstowe after failing to reach an agreement with their employer, Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company: The company has offered a raise on wages of 7 per cent and a one-off payment of £500, but the union would not accept as it was still inflation-adjusted (Photo: MTI/AP/PA/Joe Giddens)