The UN’s workers’ rights watchdog has expressed serious concern over the widespread application of minimum service levels during strikes in the UK.
Responding to a complaint about the Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Act from the TUC, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said the UK government should ensure that any minimum service levels imposed during industrial action in the transport and education sectors in particular “are indeed minimum” and said that “social partners” should be used to determine the level of service required.
Minimum service level regulations in border security, ambulance services, fire and rescue and rail services have all been introduced after the Strikes Act was enacted in 2023. Public consultations on minimum service levels in hospitals and schools have closed but the government has yet to publish responses.
To date, no employer has used the legislation to force employees to work during a strike. London North Eastern Railway (LNER) withdrew its intention to issue work notices earlier this year after train drivers’ union Aslef said it would prolong a one-day strike by another five days.
In the ILO’s follow-up to conclusions made by its application of standards committee last year, the ILO said that it had “serious concerns” about the legislation.
It felt a minimum service should meet two requirements:
- it must genuinely and exclusively be a minimum service; one which is limited to the operations which are strictly necessary to meet the basic needs of the population or the minimum requirements of the service, while maintaining the effectiveness of industrial action, and
- workers and their representative organisations should be able to participate in defining a minimum service, along with employers and the public authorities.
It said that any disagreement about a minimum service level should be resolved by an independent body, not the government.
Minimum service levels by sector
Minimum service levels in ambulance services
Minimum service levels in border security
Minimum service levels in fire and rescue
Minimum service levels in hospitals
Minimum service levels in rail
Minimum service levels in schools and education
Minimum service levels in the nuclear sector
The ILO said: “The committee requests the government to provide detailed information on all developments to ensure that the legislation is in full conformity with the [Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention] and on the steps taken to ensure that the social partners are fully consulted throughout the process.”
The TUC said the ILO’s response was “hugely embarrassing” for the UK government.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The UK’s global reputation as a country that respects workers’ rights is in tatters.
“This hugely embarrassing verdict on the Conservative government’s flagship anti-strike legislation comes just months after the UN workers’ rights watchdog reprimanded the UK over its anti-union drive.
“The ILO joins a range of respected organisations who have been queuing up to criticise this legislation – from rights groups to lawyers to politicians. These new laws are undemocratic, unworkable and are likely illegal. And they will do nothing to resolve industrial disputes.
“Our message to government is loud and clear. We will fight these draconian laws all the way. And we won’t rest until these laws are off the statute book.”
Last year’s Global Rights Index, published by the International Trade Union Confederation, rated the UK on a scale of one to five as a 4, meaning “systematic violation of rights”. In Europe, only Turkey and Belarus had a worse rating, 5, meaning “no guarantee of rights”.
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