The Government is pressing ahead with plans to introduce new legislation for “minimum safety levels” during industrial action.
The Business Department announced that a Bill will be introduced in Parliament in the coming weeks to ensure that vital public services will have to maintain a “basic function” when workers go on strike.
Minimum safety levels will be set for fire, ambulance and rail services and the Government said it will consult on the “adequate level of coverage” for these sectors.
The announcement was made amid a wave of strikes, including a walkout by train drivers on Thursday which crippled rail services.
Unions reacted with fury to the move, saying it would do nothing to resolve the disputes breaking out across the country every week.
Business Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We hugely value the work of our public services and we’re reaching out to unions to have an honest conversation on pay, conditions and reform.
“Industrial action is disruptive for everyone – from people relying on essential services to get to work or care for their family to hard-working business owners whose sales suffer. It also costs those striking at a time when family budgets are tight.
“As well as protecting the freedom to strike, the Government must also protect life and livelihoods. While we hope that voluntary agreements can continue to be made in most cases, introducing minimum safety levels – the minimum levels of service we expect to be provided – will restore the balance between those seeking to strike and protecting the public from disproportionate disruption.”
The Government said it will invite unions to meet for “honest, constructive conversations” about what is fair and affordable in public sector pay settlements for 2023/24, as part of a “reasonable approach” to avoiding prolonged industrial action.
A statement said: “Ministers are reaching out to unions to invite them to sit down and discuss the evidence that the Government will be submitting to the pay review bodies – and hopes that unions will also share their evidence.
“If the offer is accepted, discussions will take place between government departments and unions in the coming weeks on issues including pay evidence, workload and conditions in the public sector.
“These discussions will help ensure the evidence submitted to the pay review bodies is as considered and informed as possible, including reflecting areas of common ground.
“The Government is clear that the well-established independent pay review process is the right way to set public sector pay – it provides independent, expert advice and is a neutral process in which all parties play a role.
“These new discussions would feed into this process and are offered as the Government recognises the particular economic challenges the country faces this year.”
The Government called on the unions to cancel upcoming strikes in a bid to resolve the disputes “constructively through dialogue”.
“However, the Government also has a duty to the public to ensure their safety, protect their access to vital public services, and help them go about their daily lives,” the statement said.
“The Government will always protect the ability to strike, but it must be balanced with the public’s right to life and livelihoods.
“That’s why the Government will introduce new laws to ensure a basic level of service in some of our most crucial sectors when industrial action takes place.”
Gary Smith, GMB general secretary, said: “A Government that has presided over 13 years of failure in our public services is now seeking to scapegoat the NHS staff and ambulance workers who do so much to care for the people of our country.
“The NHS can only function with the goodwill of its incredible staff and attacking their fundamental right to take action will alienate them even further and do nothing to help patients and the public.
“We are always ready to discuss our members’ pay but the Government is refusing to talk about problems as they exist now, instead they want to kick the can down the road.
“There are huge questions over the NHS Pay Review Body, as ministers’ actions have consistently undermined its independence. The process needs real reform and our members need a much stronger commitment than we heard today.”
The announcement said unions would be bound to follow the legislation and would risk employers bringing an injunction to prevent strikes from taking place or seeking damages if they did not comply.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said: “Curtailing workers’ freedom to participate in lawful industrial action is always undemocratic and we will look closely at what the Government releases.
“We will meet with ministers to see their evidence for the pay process. However, only negotiations on our dispute can avert the planned action this month and I urge the Prime Minister to show a renewed sense of urgency, grasp the nettle and negotiate with nurses without further delay.
“As for minimum staffing, last month’s action was safe for patients because of detailed discussions we chose to initiate with the NHS to protect emergency services and life-saving care. The public respected that and even ministers acknowledged our constructive approach.
“Safe staffing levels that are set in law are what we want to see year-round not just in these extreme circumstances.
“We’ve long campaigned for governments to be accountable for safe and effective staffing levels in NHS and social care to prevent one nurse being left with 15, 20 or even 25 sick patients.
“The evidence is unequivocal – safe staffing saves lives and having the right number of registered nurses on duty has a direct impact on the safety and quality of patient care. Today’s highly unsafe situation is what is driving our members to say ‘enough is enough’.”
Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect said: “This hollow invitation ignores the fact that a majority of public sector workers are not covered by a pay review body, including nearly all civil servants. We have been calling for years for this to be rectified, something which the Government has consistently ignored.
“These workers have been some of the most harshly treated over the past decade of real-terms pay cuts, and now the Government is signalling its intent to leave them out once again.
“Our members have already indicated their willingness to take industrial action and there is nothing in this announcement that will persuade us not to proceed to a formal ballot as planned.”
Unison’s assistant general secretary Jon Richards said: “Ministers should focus their time and energy on rebuilding trust and relationships with workers, not silencing and suppressing them.
The Government is picking ill-advised fights with NHS employees and unions to mask years of dismal failure to tackle pay and staffing— Jon Richards, Unison
“Minimum staffing levels in the NHS would be welcome by the public and health staff every single day of the week. That could avoid people being left lying in agony on A&E floors or dying in the backs of ambulances.
“The NHS is on its knees because of record vacancies. The idea of limiting legal staffing levels to strike days and threatening to sack or fine health workers at such a time shows proper patient care isn’t ministers’ priority.
“The Government is picking ill-advised fights with NHS employees and unions to mask years of dismal failure to tackle pay and staffing.”
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “This is an attack on the right to strike. It’s an attack on working people, and it’s an attack on one of our longstanding British liberties.
“It means that when workers democratically vote to strike, they can be forced to work and sacked if they don’t. That’s wrong, unworkable, and almost certainly illegal.
“The announcement offers nothing more to help with this year’s pay and the cost-of-living crisis.
“The only offer of talks is for next year. But we need to resolve the current disputes and boost the pay of public sector workers now.
“The Prime Minister said yesterday his door is always open – if he’s serious, he should prove it. He should take up my offer to get around the table to improve this year’s pay and end the current disputes.
“There is a world of difference between promises of jam tomorrow with technical discussions about pay review bodies, and proper negotiations on pay in the here and now.
“Our public services are already deep in a staffing crisis. But this Government has gone from clapping key workers to threating them with the sack if they take lawful action for a pay rise. It will only push more people away from essential jobs in public services, harming the whole nation.”
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, said: “Just when you thought the Government could go no lower, ministers say they’re looking to deal with strikes by making them illegal, rather than negotiate with unions.
“PCS members are on strike because they cannot afford the cost of living. We view any attempt to outlaw strikes as an attack on the trade union movement and we will resist that at every stage.”
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: “This is an empty offer from the Tory government, and a meaningless stunt from Grant Shapps.
“Firefighters and other key workers are facing a ‘real-terms’ pay cut, against a backdrop of rising food and fuel prices during the cost-of-living crisis.
“Nothing in this statement from Grant Shapps seeks to address the ‘in work’ poverty faced by these workers who kept our public services going during the pandemic.
This grandstanding from Grant Shapps is badly misjudging the public mood. The Government should call off all pay cuts and we’ll call off strikes— Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union
“They were the Covid heroes.
“This grandstanding from Grant Shapps is badly misjudging the public mood.
“The Government should call off all pay cuts and we’ll call off strikes.
“Grant Shapps should stop telling workers to accept falling real wages.”
Claire Sullivan, director of employer relations and union services at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said: “Imposing new anti-strike legislation in a country which already has some of the most onerous strike laws in Europe is unnecessary, weak and unworkable.
“The Government is well aware that the proposed ‘voluntary agreements’ in the NHS are already in place due to health workers’ commitment to providing ‘critical to life’ cover.
“The way for the Government to avoid current and future workplace disputes is through ongoing, meaningful dialogue and by working in partnership with trade unions. The CSP and other health unions have been warning of the developing NHS crisis for a decade and calling for urgent pay talks for several months, only to be met repeatedly by a complete block from Government.”
