THE labour movement is facing one of the most vicious attacks in recent history. The Tories’ Minimum Service Levels Act is the latest in a long line of anti-union laws, taking aim at our right to strike. As we celebrate International Workers’ Day, we must be clear-eyed about what is at stake.  

The Westminster government is intent on driving down wages and silencing workers who fight for better pay and conditions. They know that workers’ power lies in our ability to organise in our workplaces and to withhold our labour. 

The eight-hour day, better pay, safer conditions, the weekend and paid holiday would not exist unless bosses knew we could stop the workplace. Workers who can’t strike, can’t bargain. And if you’re not bargaining, you’re begging.

But this new legislation means that workers in fire and rescue, health, education, border security, nuclear decommissioning and rail could face the sack for taking strike action. 

Ministers are currently setting regulations for each sector. This means politicians arbitrarily deciding that a proportion of each workforce will lose their legal protections during a period of strike action, even if they have voted democratically to strike. Employers will be able to issue “work notices,” naming the workers who will face this threat during each strike day.  

In the fire and rescue service, this number has been set at 73 per cent of fire engines having to be crewed during a strike, with control rooms expected to operate as normal. Any firefighter will tell you that this is a nonsensical figure. In some cases, it will mean more fire engines being available than on a non-strike day.

These regulations are, for now, England-only. The Scottish and Welsh governments have made it clear that they oppose the Minimum Service Levels Act, and it does not apply at all in Northern Ireland.

Now the legislation has passed in the Westminster Parliament, the work to resist its implementation truly begins. We must build a mass movement across sectors that can defeat this law — in every workplace and in the streets.  

It is up to employers, not ministers, to implement the legislation, and they are under pressure. As we saw during rail strikes in January, the threat of escalating strike action can force employers to back down from imposing work notices. 

The FBU has written to all fire service employers to ask them to guarantee that they will not issue work notices, and hundreds of firefighters and members of the public are now sending their own letters. 

We may not be in this situation for long. Labour has committed to reversing this legislation, along with the 2016 Trade Union Act within its first 100 days in office. We must keep up the pressure to ensure this happens.  

But we cannot ultimately rely on Westminster or courts. We must be prepared to mobilise in solidarity as soon as any striking worker is threatened with the sack. And, as has been TUC policy since last September, we must be prepared to build a mass campaign of resistance to the anti-union laws, up to and including non-compliance. Direct action has defeated anti-union laws in the past, and it can do so again.

Matt Wrack is general secretary of the FBU and president of the TUC.