Meeting of the Parliament 14 December 2023
I refer members to my entry in the register of interests, as I am a member of the trade union Unison and I hold a bank nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Because of the Westminster cost of living crisis, which means that many people’s wages are not keeping pace with increases to their cost of living, and given that that is coupled with years of Tory austerity, people across the UK have been striking in record numbers. Workers in almost every sector have come together to demand better pay and conditions.
Just as the right to work is a fundamental human right, exercising the right to strike is a fundamental liberty that is available to most workers. However, a change in the law by the Westminster Tory Government threatens that liberty for workers in some of our most vital public services.
Under plans that have been announced so far, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 will impact on workers in rail services, ambulance services and border security by stipulating minimum service levels in those sectors. The UK Government has also been consulting on the introduction of regulations on minimum service levels for hospital-based health services in England, Scotland and Wales during strike action. Notwithstanding the impact on workers, the 2023 act ignores the devolution settlement and fails to recognise the Scottish Government’s authority in devolved areas.
The act is just the latest Tory attack on workers’ rights. As I started my working life, I had my first experience of exercising my right to withdraw my labour in 1984, when Thatcher’s Government removed trade union rights at GCHQ. Union members were told to resign their membership or be sacked. I was proud then, as I remain now, of the tenacity of the workers who were involved and their families and of the solidarity of the whole trade union movement.
That was not Thatcher’s only foray into reducing the powers of trade unionism in the UK. Her Government restricted the right to picket, prevented unions from bringing out their members in support of other unions and introduced ballots for strike action. In 2016, the then Tory Government enacted higher thresholds for success on ballots and extended the notice that was required for industrial action.
Now we face yet another crackdown on workers’ protections through the 2023 act. The Scottish Government will—rightly—do everything that it can to oppose this appalling piece of anti-worker and anti-trade union legislation, which will undermine, not enhance, industrial relations. Instead of demonising workers and continually limiting their ability to take industrial action, the UK Government should give those in the public sector fair wage rises and proper terms and conditions, while providing additional funding across the devolved nations to support fair pay awards.
As we have heard again today, Labour has said that it will repeal the legislation in its first 100 days of government, which I would welcome. However, Sir Keir Starmer has U-turned on previously announced policies almost every other week, so members must forgive me for not trusting what Labour says. As Labour continues to move to the right in order to appeal to Tory voters, who knows what other progressive proposals will end up on the Labour scrapheap?
Labour does not have the best record. Other than overturning the ban on trade union activity in GCHQ, which I mentioned, Labour Governments have kept most of the restrictions on union activity that successive Tory Governments have imposed.