How to Fight the Government
As the leaves begin to turn brown and a disappointing summer becomes autumn that means one big thing in the political calendar: conference season.
All of the main parties will have their turn in the spotlight but before that happens the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is meeting in Liverpool.
One of the main concerns that they are discussing is the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 that was passed earlier on this year. In fact they consider it to be so problematic that they are planning to report the law to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), an agency of the UN that sets minimum standards for workers.
The General Secretary of the TUC, Paul Nowak, is concerned that the Act “falls far short” of shared international legal standards. In particular they mandate minimum staffing levels for certain public services, such as education, when workers decide to go on strike.
It is argued that this breaches the right to strike, a principle that has been recognised by the ILO since 1927. As Nowak went on to say:
“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…
“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.
“They’re the product of a desperate Conservative Government spoiling for a fight with unions to distract from their dire economic record.”
The chances of meaningful success with this appeal to the ILO are low. After all the government’s immigration policy has already been criticised by the UN and it has not made any difference to the approach taken.
Nevertheless it is a useful way to highlight issues and bring attention to rights that are being stripped away.
Meanwhile victories are being achieved by unions in the courts. Back in July Unison defeated the government in the High Court over regulations that were passed in order to allow employers to use agency workers to replace those on strike.
As the government continues to concentrate power around the prime minister and passes laws that seek to sweep their failures under the rug, unions and other groups are right to push back using all of the legal tools at their disposal.
The failure of the government to provide basic rights and services also reaches down to local politics as well. This week in the podcast we cover a case where two local authorities each try to avoid funding after-care for a person detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Episode link: https://uklawweekly.com/2023-uksc-31/
Make a difference today,
Marcus