RCM response to proposed strike laws

Published on: 14/05/2015

The new business secretary, Sajid Javid, has this week announced proposed new strike laws. A strike affecting health, transport, fire services or schools will need to be backed by 40% of eligible union members, there will also need to be a minimum 50% turnout in strike ballots.  The government will also lift restrictions on the use of agency staff to replace striking workers, he said.  The changes to the law are to be announced in the Queen’s Speech, he added, which will take place later this month.

Mr Javid told the BBC’s Today programme: “We’ve already made clear, in terms of strike laws, that there will be some significant changes… it will be a priority of ours.  We need to update our strike laws. We’ve never hidden away the changes we want to make. I think it’s essential to make these changes”.

However, the Royal College of Midwives has been strongly critical of the proposed changes explaining that it would make it virtually impossible for workers to take strike action.  Jon Skewes, RCM director for policy, employment relations and communications, said that industrial action was a last resort for trade unions and that the RCM only took action when the government and employers rejected recommendations of the independent pay review body that trade unions, employers and government had agreed to honour. “Had the government and employers continued to honour the negotiating institutions there would not have been a problem.  This announcement deals with the symptom of industrial unrest but not the cause.”

Read the full RCM response here and a BBC report here