The new government’s Employment Rights Bill will make some significant changes to anti-union laws. But it will also leave many on the statute books.
We republish below a government briefing (also online here) on the impact their forthcoming Employment Rights Bill will have on anti-union law. Perhaps most significant is the repeal of most of the 2016 Trade Union Act, including the turnout thresholds for industrial action ballots.
Whilst these measures represent real progress — which would not have been achieved without union pressure on the Labour Party — significant restrictions on the right to strike will remain on the statute books.
For example, the Employment Acts of 1980 and 1990, which outlaw solidarity strikes (i.e., workers striking in support of, or on behalf, other workers, outside of an official “trade dispute” with their own immediate employer), will remain in effect.
Our unions must do more to demand the government goes further. Free Our Unions can support rank-and-file activists who want to push their unions to act.
Free Our Unions 