Protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in London, as the Bill on minimum service levels during strikes reaches its second reading. Picture date: Monday January 16, 2023.
UNION leaders have demanded that peers quash the government’s anti-strikes Bill, which is set to be debated in the House of Lords tomorrow.
The TUC has urged peers to vote for an amendment to the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill that would stop frontline workers getting sacked for exercising their right to withdraw their labour.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “It’s time for the government to ditch this Bill for good and protect the right to strike.
“No-one should be sacked for trying to win a better deal at work,” he said, pointing out that ministers had gone from clapping to sacking key workers.
“It’s plain wrong — peers must do everything that they can to stop it,” he said. “Every peer who praised key workers during pandemic now has the chance to show they really meant it.”
The amendment stops a work notice from being regarded as a breach of the contract of employment and will stop workers being sacked.
In a separate development, the Welsh Senedd also discussed the Bill earlier today and Counsel General Mick Antoniw scorned the undemocratic attack on trade unions.
“It is no secret that the Welsh government opposes the Bill,” he said.
“It was 123 years ago that railway workers in Pontypridd took industrial action which the House of Lords declared unlawful and led to the 1911 Trade Disputes Act, which established in law the right to take industrial action.
“It is a right enshrined across the free world and is a cornerstone of international conventions and international law and human rights.
“This Bill reverses 100 years of progress, and its significance should not be underestimated.”
He also attacked the UK government for undermining democracy.
“When you look across the world and throughout history, it is those governments that stand against democracy that restrict trade union rights,” he said.
“This Bill makes provisions that will have a detrimental impact on devolution and the delivery of Welsh public services.
“It is also about the way in which public services are delivered and fundamentally undermines Welsh government social partnership, which has worked so well between business, trade unions and government.
“I call upon all members of this Senedd to withhold their consent to this regressive and divisive Bill.”
