Strikes: Government confirms it will scrap ‘spiteful’ minimum service levels
The new government has confirmed it will repeal controversial laws enforcing minimum service levels during industrial action.
The Employments Rights Bill will be introduced within the first 100 days of Labour’s office, the Department for Business and Trade said in a statement.
The Minimum Services Act was introduced in 2023 following a long-running period of unprecedented industrial action in the UK.
Strikes in the NHS alone cost the taxpayer £1.7bn last year, while two years worth of industrial action on the UK’s railways have resulted in more than a billion being written off the sector.
But the Conservatives bill infuriated Unions across the country and was criticised as being a violation of human rights and international law.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “Attempting to clamp down on the fundamental freedom of working people has got us nowhere and this was targeted at sectors who dedicate their lives to serving us all.
“That’s why we’re scrapping this pointless law and creating a new partnership between business, trade unions and working people through our New Deal.”
She added: “Repealing this legislation is the first part of our plan to reset industrial relations so they are fit for a modern economy.”
Rayner and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds on Tuesday wrote to the Scottish and Welsh governments and the departments most impacted by strikes. These were Education, Energy, Health, Transport and the Home Office.
The Labour government has also written to all 12 metro mayors across the country so they can begin discussions with local employers on the change.
Joanne Leach, senior associate at law firm Lawrence Stephens explained that “with the proposed plans to ignore minimum services levels legislation, the government can secure an easy early win in terms of following through on the employment commitments of their election manifesto.”
“Repealing this controversial and ineffective legislation, which had already been subject to challenge via judicial review, will take up minimal legislative time in contrast to the scrutiny that will inevitably be required of the implementation of the rest of its New Deal for Working People.”
“A direction to ignore its provisions in advance of that repeal will effect an even more immediate impact – the strengthening of the fundamental right of any worker to withdraw their services to protect their contractual terms,” she added.
British unions hailed the news.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, said: “We welcome this move as an opportunity to reset industrial relations in Britain and to move to a position of negotiating just settlements to disputes rather than having trade unions attacked and demonised.
“This success of ensuring the repeal of Minimum Service legislation is a direct result of the concerted efforts by the trade union movement, and we will continue to champion the interests of railway staff, seafarers and offshore workers.”
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “This legislation should have never reached the statute book. No one wanted minimum service levels, only a spiteful government watching power drain away and desperate to shore up its rapidly disappearing support.”