SCOTTISH workers – including in devolved areas such as education, transport and health – will be at the “beck and call of the UK Government” after Tory MPs voted to include Scotland in the Conservative’s controversial anti-strike laws, the country’s leading trade unionist has warned.
Roz Foyer, the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), labelled the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill a “blatant attack” on devolution.
Peers in the House of Lords had passed an amendment to ensure that the new laws – which will effectively remove people’s right to strike by forcing them to attend work even during planned industrial action – would apply “only to England”.
However, Conservative members of the Commons, including all six Scottish Tory MPs, voted to remove that amendment on Monday evening, ensuring the act covers Scotland and Wales as well.
Analysis conducted by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in April found that one in four Scottish workers (around 600,000 people) would have their right to take industrial action threatened by the UK bill.
Foyer (below), whose STUC represents around 540,000 trade union members north of the Border, told The National: “It’s entirely unsurprising that the Tories stuck to form and legislated to remove the right to strike for workers in Scotland.
“By defeating the amendment from the Lords, workers across the country – including those working in areas of devolved responsibility like our NHS – will be at the beck and call of the UK Government Secretary of State in deciding who can or can’t take industrial action.
“It’s a blatant attack on our movement and on Scottish devolution which reveals the desperation of the UK Government.
“This Tory government needs booted out of office and any potential Labour government must guarantee the devolution of employment law to Scotland as one of their top priorities, protecting and future-proofing the rights of our movement.”
Keir Starmer’s Labour Party have pledged to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill should they come to power after the next General Election. However, the SNP have cast doubt on those pledges, saying there have been a "number of Labour U-turns recently".
The bill makes it so employers in areas such as health, education, transport, and fire and rescue services can hand people a “work notice” ahead of planned strike action. This notice will tell them the work that they are expected to carry out, even during an industrial dispute.
If people fail to comply with the notice, even if they have not received it, then they could face the sack.
The Lords also tabled three other amendments which looked to introduce large changes into the Tories’ bill, but all of them were also voted down by Conservatives in the Commons.
Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake claimed the changes made by peers would leave the bill “inoperable”.
He said: “Amendment four ensures there can be no consequences for a worker who does not comply with a work notice.
“The Government disagrees with this as without such consequences an employer is powerless to manage instances of non-compliance, which will continue the disproportionate impact strikes can have on the public – severely undermining the effectiveness of this legislation.
“Given this amendment would make the bill ineffective, as I suspect the opposition intended, the Government cannot support it.”
Speaking in the same debate, the SNP cast doubt on Labour’s commitment to repeal the bill if it comes to power.
The party’s frontbench spokesperson Alan Brown told the Commons: “I do welcome the commitment from Labour if they are in government to repeal this legislation.
“But I would point out that there has already been a number of Labour U-turns recently, and now we’ve heard the mantra Labour is not going to be in power to do the job of repealing nasty Tory legislation, so there is a concern that Labour won’t do what it has promised at the despatch box.”
SNP MP for Glasgow South West Chris Stephens (below) meanwhile drew attention to the empty Conservative benches during the debate, joking that “every time we discuss industrial action law, there tends to be industrial action on the Government benches”.
He added: “Could it be that they are so outraged by this Bill and at the supporting of the Lords amendments that [they] are at the TUC rally outside? I doubt it.
“Or is it simply the fact that Government backbenchers do not have the confidence in their own arguments in this legislation to come here and defend the Government’s position as I believe it is the case?”
The TUC rally in Parliament Square saw the general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, Mick Lynch, call for a “mass campaign of workplace disobedience” if the bill is enacted.
The Scottish Greens said that the rights of workers had never been given by governments, but won through hard-fought battles.
MSP Maggie Chapman said: "There is nothing the Tories are more terrified of than organised workers coming together to stand up for their rights and demand better.
"It is how change happens. From the minimum wage and weekends to paid holidays and better pay and conditions, these things weren't given willingly by supportive governments – they were hard fought for and won by workers.
"Unions have been at the heart of campaigns for so many of the rights that successive Tory governments have opposed tooth and nail and desperately tried to roll-back.
"These anti-trade union laws are a disgrace and fly in the face of workers rights and democracy. The people of Scotland have rejected the Tories and everything they stand for time and again at the ballot box, and I am confident that we will continue to do so.
"The Scotland I want to see is one with solidarity, representation and workers rights at its heart. We will always fight for these values and put them at the centre of our vision for independence."
