Trade unions
Daniel Barnett
I represent businesses in high-stakes employment litigation and invest in HR consultancies. I am a presenter on LBC Radio, qualified as a barrister, and train lawyers & HR Professionals in employment law.
Summary: Government announces it will repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2024.
Yesterday, the Government issued a press release confirming that it will repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023.
The Act allowed regulations to be introduced on an industry-specific basis, setting out required minimum service levels to be maintained during strike-action. Regulations were put in place covering: health, transport, education, fire and rescue, border control, and nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management services. Where regulations were in place, once a trade union gave notice of strike action to an employer, that employer could issue a ‘work notice’ ahead of the strike. This specified that the workforce required to meet the minimum service levels for that strike period.
It is very unusual to see the word ‘binned’ included in a formal press release but, such is the strength of feeling within the government about the minimum service provisions, this word is, indeed, used. The press release attacks the minimum service levels provisions by declaring that "no employer has used" them, they have not "resolved a single strike" and they "undermine good industrial relation". An accompanying policy paper stresses that industrial relations should be based on "good faith negotiation and bargaining".
The formal repeal will form part of the upcoming Employment Rights Bill which will be introduced within the first 100 days of the new Government.