The Strikes Bill will have a disproportionate impact on women, as it affects the right to strike in public sector organisations with a predominantly female workforce, campaigners have said.
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which receives its second reading in the House of Lords today (21 February) would require certain public services such as schools, public transport, the fire service and the NHS to operate at least a minimum service during strikes.
There would be no automatic protection from unfair dismissal for an employee who is told they must work but chooses to strike, allowing employers to dismiss them if they wish.
However, in a letter to equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, equality campaigners have noted that women are disproportionately represented in some of the sectors where the legislation would apply. Women represent 75% of teachers, 89% of teaching support staff, 82% of social care workers and 77% of NHS staff, it claims. They also make up 20% of the transport workforce and 18% of the fire service.
Strikes Bill
The letter is signed by the Fawcett Society, Pregnant then Screwed, the Women’s Budget Group, the Equality Trust and the TUC.
It says: “In an already-challenging labour market rife with discrimination, the last thing working women need is to be threatened with the sack for exercising their democratic right to strike and for trying to defend their pay and working conditions – especially in a cost-of-living crisis.”
Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “If passed, this bill will have a silencing effect on women who are already outnumbered by men 2:1 in positions of power.
“For many women who work in systemically undervalued sectors, strike action is critical to making their voices heard. What’s more, we know that women, especially women of colour, are at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis – workplaces must work for women and the starting point for this must be decent pay and working conditions.”
MPs have voted the strikes bill through the House of Commons, although some criticised the government for trying to rush through legislation that had not been given the proper level of scrutiny. It will not become law until it has passed through several more stages in the House of Lords.
The government was criticised for not publishing an impact assessment before the bill reached its final stage in the Commons, but this is due to be published soon.
The Regulatory Policy Committee, the independent body that assesses the evidence used to inform regulatory changes, has said the impact assessment does not sufficiently consider how the legislation would affect small and micro businesses. The body also criticised the government for “shortcutting” normal procedures by not putting the impact assessment out in time.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Ministers are trying to keep parliamentarians and the public in the dark about this draconian legislation – which is a direct attack on our fundamental right to strike.
“It is telling that the government’s own independent watchdog has given ministers the red card on this Bill – and labelled it ‘not fit for purpose’.
“Ministers must come clean about the true nature of this nasty Bill. They must not be allowed to duck scrutiny.”
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