The Trades Union Congress has lodged a complaint with the UN’s labour standards body claiming the UK government flouted the watchdog’s orders over its newly enforced “undemocratic” anti-strike law.
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the organising body for trade unions in England and Wales, said it had taken its case to the International Labour Organization (ILO) because the strike act was in breach of international law.
The bill requires staff to ensure minimum service levels during strikes by key sectors including emergency services, education and rail.
The ILO issued what the TUC described as an “embarrassing” reprimand to the government over the anti-strike law in June, a month before its formal introduction. The labour watchdog told the UK to ensure any existing or incoming laws conformed with international rules on freedom of association and to take advice from the ILO’s experts.
The ILO also said the government should limit its powers to ensure the state did “not interfere with the autonomy and functioning of workers’ and employers’ organisations”.
Before the TUC’s annual meeting in Liverpool, Nowak said the strike laws fell short of the ILO’s orders.
“The ILO has already slapped down the UK government and ordered it to make sure existing and prospective legislation is in line with ILO standards. We believe the strikes act falls well short of that, and that’s why we have submitted a case to the ILO over these new laws,” he said.
The government introduced the laws after a year of the biggest wave of industrial action seen in Britain in three decades, in which a range of employees – including rail workers, warehouse and port workers, Royal Mail employees, junior doctors, teachers and barristers – went on strike in protest over pay and working conditions.
The ILO’s conclusions in June were the result of an initial complaint by the TUC, lodged almost a year ago, amid concerns that the incoming laws would affect workers’ rights to strike.
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“These laws haven’t been designed to resolve conflict at work, they’ve been designed to escalate it. They’re unworkable, undemocratic and almost certainly in breach of international law,” Nowak said.
A government spokesperson said: “The purpose of this legislation is to protect the lives and livelihoods of the general public and ensure they can continue to access vital public services during strikes. The legislation does not remove the ability to strike but people expect the government to act in circumstances where their rights and freedoms are being disproportionately impacted, and that’s what we are doing with this bill.”