Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has proposed sweeping reforms to UK trade union laws that would guarantee minimum services during strikes and raise the threshold for the number of workers who need to take part in industrial action ballots.
Truss, the bookies’ favorite to be Britain’s next prime minister, pledged on Monday to introduce legislation that would implement a requirement for some provision to continue to operate during public sector layoffs.
The proposal, which forms part of the Conservatives’ 2019 election manifesto, has been resurrected amid public sector workers threatening further strikes this summer over pay and working conditions.
Boris Johnson’s government had insisted it would take six to 12 months for Parliament to approve the legislation. But Truss pledged to enact the minimum service commitments within 30 days of entering Downing Street.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs added that she would increase the participation threshold in the votes required by the unions to approve the termination of their members.
Currently, unions must secure 50% participation of a company’s workers for a strike to be legal. In addition, employees in “major public services” must obtain the active vote of more than 40 percent of the entire workforce. Truss pledged to change the law to require 50 percent of the entire workforce to vote “yes” for the strike to go ahead, and that this would apply to all jobs not just crucial public services.
The Foreign Secretary said: “We need tough and decisive action to limit the ability of trade unions to cripple our economy. I will do everything in my power to ensure that militant union action can no longer paralyze the vital services that working people depend on.”
It pledged to limit the number of times workers can walk in the six months following a successful vote. It would also eliminate tax-free payments to striking workers.
But Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, criticized Truss’s proposals, saying the right to industrial action was an important British freedom.
“Threatening the right to strike means workers lose the power to bargain for better pay and conditions,” he said.
“Instead of pandering to workers and their unions, the candidates should come up with plans to raise wages again. That’s how to deal with the cost-of-living emergency.”
recommended
Meanwhile, ministers have warned that the increasingly contentious rivalry between Truss and former chancellor Rishi Sunak is hurting the Conservative party’s chances at the next election.
Allies of the two candidates have stepped up their attacks in recent days as each seeks to win over Tory members who will choose the next party leader and prime minister.
Sunak and Truss faced off for the first time in a televised debate on Monday evening, with both candidates keen to advance before Tory campaigners’ voting begins in about 10 days.
Several leading Tories have called on the candidates to change their tune. Amanda Milling, the foreign minister and former party president, said the contest was “more toxic than I’ve ever seen”. Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer called the race “childish” and “disgraceful”, and called on both camps to “raise their standards”.