Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford has launched a scathing attack on UK Government plans to scrap a law made in Wales on how trade unions operate in Welsh public services. The law, brought in five years ago, banned employers from bringing in agency staff to replace striking public sector workers.
Mr Drakeford described the UK Government's plans as "nonsense" and an attempt to distract from their own incompetence. A union leader called it an attack on workers' rights and Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth said it was proof that the UK Government wanted to undermine devolution.
The UK Government's plan would see it repeal the Trade Union Act (Wales) 2017, which applies to devolved Welsh public bodies and to trade unions in public services delivered by devolved Welsh public bodies including the Welsh NHS, local authorities, schools, fire services and Welsh Government sponsored bodies in Wales. It says it wants trade union legislation to "apply equally across Great Britain".
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When the Senedd passed the Trade Union Wales Act in 2017 it was seen as a way to protect the rights of unions in devolved public sectors, such as health, education and councils. The measures overturned include a 40% support threshold for strike ballots, and restrictions affecting time off work for union activities and the taking of union subscriptions directly from pay packets. It meant agency workers could not be used to cover striking staff in Wales.
Industrial relations are a power reserved to Westminster meaning that primary legislation made in the House of Commons takes precedence over any legislation in Wales.
Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford told the BBC Today programme that it is "absolutely disgraceful that the Westminster Government announced its intention to do this without a single word to the Welsh Government or Welsh Parliament which passed this legislation".
"We discovered it tucked away in an explanatory memorandum, it just speaks volumes of the disrespectful agenda this Government has towards devolution".
It was put to him that the UK Government's decision would "cushion" people in Wales from the impact of strikes. To that, Mr Drakeford replied: "It's nonsense, isn't it, the idea you'll find an agency worker capable of driving a train, an agency worker capable of operating a signal box. These are hugely safety critical roles we're talking about. This is just a piece of nonsense dreamt up by a Tory Government.
"How are they going to get a train to run, how will those other roles get a signal box to operate?"
"It's just sand in people's eyes. Where was that Government last week when it ought to have been round the table helping to resolve this difficulty, why wasn't it there speaking up on behalf of the travelling population trying to find a solution.
"We've got a government which is absent on the job, it doesn't engage where it ought to engage. It indulges in make believe sorts of policies in order to try throw sand in people's eyes to hide their own abject failures. That's all this is about."
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "We will resist any attempts by the UK Government to undermine both how devolved public services operate and legislation which has been passed by the Senedd."
Wales TUC General Secretary Shavanah Taj said: "The Trade Union (Wales) Act 2017 was introduced to protect workers’ basic rights. The UK Government seems determined to attack both workers’ rights and devolution in one go, by introducing an entirely unnecessary piece of legislation. It beggars’ belief that in a cost of living crisis, this is their priority.
"We will fiercely oppose any attempts to attack workers’ rights and we look forward to a future where workers throughout the UK have the strongest employment rights in Europe, instead of the weakest."
The GMB Union say the UK Government should "butt out" of Welsh matters. Tom Hoyles GMB political officer for Wales said: "GMB will fight this at every step. Let’s be clear on this, the UK government has no right to get involved here – they are overstepping the mark. Their vindictive trade union bill was overturned in Wales six years ago. This is a clear attempt to create division and divert attention away from their internal party chaos and failure to tackle the cost of living crisis. They should butt out."
Writing on Twitter, Plaid's Rhun ap Iorwerth said: "To those denying the UK Tory Govt wants to undermine devolution, explain this. It's been systematic for years, much driven by, but not exclusive to, the recentralising of British power post-Brexit. This takes it to a new level. Devolved Welsh law repealed. We must stand up to this."
Speaking in 2017, then the local government secretary, Mark Drakeford, said at the time it was "a very significant day" for public services and devolution.
"We should never have been in a position where we had to introduce a bill to reverse parts of a UK act," he said. "Time and again we warned the UK Government that this damaging and divisive legislation interfered with devolved policy and the powers held by the National Assembly for Wales.
"We always said that the Trade Union Act was unnecessary and would lead to more confrontational relationships between employers and workers, undermining rather than supporting public services and the economy."
A UK government spokesperson said: “While we continue to work with the Welsh government in a number of areas, it has always been the case that employment and industrial relations law is a reserved matter for the UK Government.
“It is right that we seek to apply trade union law equally and fairly across Britain to ensure that services, such as train lines, are run as effectively as possible.”
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