A Not So Constructive Meeting
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) strike continues this week causing disruption in the criminal courts as barristers seek equitable pay from the government for their work. I have written about the background to the strike in previous editions of this newsletter.
Now it appears that there has been some progress but is this latest development as meaningful as the two sides would have us believe?
With a new prime minister comes a new Justice Minister and Brandon Lewis has taken on the difficult job in Liz Truss’ cabinet. He met with the CBA yesterday and that in itself could be seen as progress given that Lewis’ predecessor, Dominic Raab, did not even make it to the negotiating table, preferring to wage war in the tabloids instead.
Both sides described the meeting as ‘constructive’ but I think we need to be wary before saying that true progress has been made.
For example, the statement by Lewis after the meeting was as follows:
“Today I met the Criminal Bar Association and Bar Council to emphasise the need for striking barristers to return to work and get justice moving again. It was a constructive initial meeting and discussions will continue to deliver for victims.”
It is noteworthy that he does not directly address the demands of the CBA in his statement. Instead his focus is on ‘getting back to work’ and making sure that the wheels of justice get turning once again.
Furthermore the emphasis on the victims is a deliberate politicisation of the industrial action because it attempts to create a direct link between the striking barristers and victims within the criminal justice system. In other words Lewis is not just failing to acknowledge the government’s role in the systemic breakdown of criminal justice (which would be fair enough) but is specifically using his statement to displace the blame.
With that in mind it is surprising that the Criminal Bar Association responded to the meeting by pausing protests outside of courts until next week.
This gesture of good will ignores the fact that no meaningful progress has been made and all the minister has done is sit around a table. That might be more than Raab ever did but we are no closer to seeing a resolution to this crisis.
The all-out strike was a big step and really puts pressure on the government. If the CBA really want to make progress then they need to press that advantage rather than pulling back with no good reason whatsoever.
Over the coming weeks and months we have to hope that the parties do work towards an acceptable resolution and we do start to see genuinely constructive meetings.
This, however, was not one of them.