Skip to main content
UN watchdog rejects Tory claims that body backed anti-Strikes bill
Protesters during the demonstration in Parliament Square, London, against the Government's controversial legislation on minimum levels of service during strikes, which unions warn could lead to workers being sacked for legally voting to take industrial action. Picture date: Monday May 22, 2023.

THE United Nations launched an “embarrassing” attack on the Tory government’s latest assault on unions and the right to strike today.

In a rare but damning intervention, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the UN workers’ rights watchdog, reminded Downing Street that its legislation must comply with international law.

The agency instructed ministers to seek technical assistance from ILO staff and report back on progress in September. It is the first call of its kind to be applied to Britain in nearly three decades. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood
Migration / 4 September 2026
4 September 2026

Labour cannot win another election by accommodating racism, instead it should focus on finding solutions to social concerns that too often seek scapegoats, writes DIANE ABBOTT

WINNING TEAM: Shavanah Taj, General Secretary of Wales TUC joins, with her two daughters, protesters from the National Education Union (NEU), Trades Union Congress (TUC), Public and Commercial Services (PCS), and University and College Union (UCU) at a TUC rally in central Cardiff, February 2023
Workers' Rights / 25 July 2026
25 July 2026

The International Court of Justice has delivered its clearest ruling yet that the right to strike is protected under international law, write Professor TONIA NOVITZ, Professor KEITH EWING and Lord JOHN HENDY KC

Britain's new Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks to staff and media at 10 Downing Street in London, July 20, 2026
Politics / 21 July 2026
21 July 2026

The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book

UNION RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS: St Mungo's workers outside the homeless charity's head quarters in Tower Hill, London, as they start a month long strike over pay, May 2023
Workers' Rights / 21 March 2026
21 March 2026

The unions are unhappy with the Employment Rights Act 2025 and with good reason. KEITH EWING and Lord JOHN HENDY KC take a close look at why the Bill promised more than it delivered