What Just Happened?
Railway strikes in the UK have halted services throughout July and Augst 2022.
What Does This Mean?
Industrial action refers to workers who go on strike or take other actions such as refusing to do overtime in protest of their working conditions.
Industrial action in the UK is organised by trade unions on behalf of its members in the event that they are in dispute with their employers and this cannot be resolved through negotiations. Strike action can only be called by Union where the majority of its members vote for the action in a properly organise postal vote.
In this case UK train drivers supported by the RMT trade union have participated in a number of pre-planned industrial strikes organised by their unions. They are striking primarily over pay with employees wanting wage increases to reflect the rising cost of living.
In the face of severe disruptions to commuters, ‘RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has warned that the rail dispute could go on “indefinitely,” as the latest strike by thousands of workers caused travel misery for passengers.’
How Does This Affect the Legal sector?
The law impacts everything area of life and strike action is no different. Individuals will have to ascertain whether they have the legal right to strike in the UK and retain their job after doing so. It will also be important to establish the workplaces responsibilities and obligations in the event of its employees striking.
Although there is no legal right to strike in the UK, ‘there is statutory protection for the organisers of industrial action provided all the relevant statutory requirements are met. There is also protection from unfair dismissal for employees participating in official and lawful industrial action.’
The government has stated that lawful industrial action must include:
A trade dispute (a dispute between you and your workers about employment-related issues).
A properly-conducted industrial action ballot
A written notice of industrial action sent to you
Comparatively the industrial action must not:
‘Be secondary action - for example, action taken by workers whose employer not involved in the trade dispute
Be in support of an employee dismissed for taking unofficial industrial action
Promote closed-shop practices (such as when employers agree to employ only union members) or enforce trade union membership against non-union firms
Involve unlawful picketing.’ (Picketing is whereby workers and union reps stand outside their place of work to explain why they are striking and encourage others to join. It is only lawful when carried out near or at the workers normal place of work).
In attempts to combat the disruption caused by the railway strikes the government repealed the law relating to strikes in the UK. The changes came into force on 21 July 2022 and will enable businesses affected by strike action to fill the roles impacted by strike action with temporary agency staff.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said of the changes: ‘In light of militant trade union action threatening to bring vital public services to a standstill, we have moved at speed to repeal these burdensome,1970s - style restrictions.’
'The government has also changed the law today to raise the maximum damages that courts can award against a union, when strike action has been found by the court to be unlawful. For the biggest unions, the maximum award will rise from £250,000 to £1 million.’
Perhaps unsurprisingly this has caused controversy amongst unions who claim that the changes create a risk to workers and the public alike. Unison have announced plans to challenge the changes and written to the business secretary to state their intention to take this to judicial review. It will be interesting to see whether Unison proceed with their plans and whether the changes are subsequently repealed considering the same proposals were put forward in 2015 and were ultimately abandoned.
More generally for workers where strike action takes place which results in the closure of a businesses, those who are not participating will be asking whether they will be paid for the day(s). After all they cannot work as opposed to are choosing not to work. Advice on this states that ‘unless your contract has a provision allowing for unpaid lay-off, your boss will still have to pay you if your workplace is closed because of the strikes; this also cannot be marked down as a holiday.’ However, for those who cannot get to work as a result of the strike action, it is not the case that you are still entitled to pay. Generally, it is the employee's responsibility to get to work therefore in the case that they cannot due to the strikes an employer can mark this an unauthorised absence.
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This Article Was Written Using the Following Sources:
[1] Jane Clinton ‘Train strike dates: All the rail strikes that have happened in the UK in 2022 and if more rail strikes are planned’ (Independent, 23 August 2022) < https://inews.co.uk/news/train-strike-dates-rail-strikes-uk-2022-walkouts-planned-1810441> Accessed 25 August 2022 [2] UK Government ‘Taking part in industrial action and strikes’ (UK Government) < https://www.gov.uk/industrial-action-strikes> Accessed 25 August 2022
[3] Julia Kollewe ‘RMT chief warns rail strikes could go on ‘indefinitely’ as action halts 80% of services – as it happened’ (The Guardian, 18 August 2022) <https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2022/aug/18/20-train-services-running-45000-rail-workers-go-strike-business-live> Accessed 25 August 2022
[4] UK Government ‘If your business faces industrial strike action’ (UK Government) <https://www.gov.uk/if-your-business-faces-industrial-action/lawful-industrial-action> Accessed 25 August 2022 [5] UK Government ‘New law in place to allow business to hire agency workers to plug staffing gaps caused by strike action’ < https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-law-in-place-to-allow-businesses-to-hire-agency-workers-to-plug-staffing-gaps-caused-by-strike-action> Accessed 25 August 2022 [6] Ella Devereux ‘Union prepared to take government to court over ‘reckless’ strike law changes’ (Nursing Times, 27 July 2022) < https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/workforce/union-prepared-to-take-government-to-court-over-reckless-strike-law-change-27-07-2022/> Accessed 25 August 2022 [7] Laura Kersley ‘National Rail Strikes – Does My Employer Have To Pay Me If I Can’t Get To Work?’ (Nelsons, 25 July 2022) <https://www.nelsonslaw.co.uk/rail-strikes-employee-rights/> Accessed 25 August 2022
Disclaimer: This article (and any information accessed through links in this article) is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.