Industrial Action

Question

The shadow spokesperson criticised the government’s response to the economic crisis and questioned whether progress was made in talks with unions. She also pointed out that strikes were happening due to the current state of chaos under this government, highlighting the death of a constituent waiting for an ambulance on a non-strike day.

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The member criticises the government for causing the economic crisis and failing to find a long-term solution. She also challenges the Minister on his claim of making progress in negotiations with unions, questioning whether there is any real consultation or genuine commitment to addressing workers' issues.

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The MP asks if the measures proposed are fair and proportionate, similar to those in place in other European countries like France and Spain.

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The member criticises the Government for attacking workers’ rights under the guise of protecting public services, highlighting economic mismanagement and opposition to Scottish devolution in this matter.

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Strikes have a disproportionate impact in rural Britain, where there are no other modes of public transport. The nearest alternative hospital may be more than 60 miles away and ambulances have already travelled far further to get there, and that is without mentioning the vacancy rates in public services, which are so high due to our housing crisis. Can my right hon. Friend confirm how these measures will help support rural communities?

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One minute the Secretary of State is clapping the key workers, and the next he is sacking them. What is really behind this legislation? Only time will tell, but why is he looking to criminalise the great key workers who brought us through this pandemic, and whose only crime is to demand decent wages and terms and conditions, as well as a safe environment for themselves and the general public?

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Will my right hon. Friend try to impress on Opposition Members, who keep referring to this as an anti-union measure, that public support for the unions will be endangered if they do not preserve minimum services for people whose lives are at risk?

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The Secretary of State has said that he supports the right to strike—by banning workers from striking. Does he not see the ridiculous position he has got himself into? The whole point of having an assessment of policy is to find out whether it will work. When the Government are told that their policy is bonkers, the sensible thing to do is to bin it. Where does he think declaring war on working people will end?

Question

Coming back through Heathrow recently, I spoke to someone who works there who praised the armed forces for the incredible job they did covering Border Force, and told me how the process worked without any problems at all, and what a sad reflection it was on the public service that they could not do the same thing. Does my right hon. Friend agree that Opposition Members, the unions and many who work in the public service seem to have forgotten that we spent £400 billion safeguarding their jobs, their futures and their careers?

Question

The right hon. Member asked whether we acknowledge the impact of covid and Ukraine. Of course we do—we live with it every day. All our constituents live with it every day. All those working in the NHS and the ambulance service live with it every day. He says that the British people need to know that an ambulance will turn up when they have a heart attack, a stroke or a serious injury, and that they will have access to hospital care. Does he not agree that a better way of ensuring that is to deal with the actual problem: to invest, recruit and retain staff in the NHS and the ambulance service, and provide the service that is being cried out for not just by us but by those people? Rather than tinkering about with what cannot solve the problem, fixing it might be a better way.

Question

It is important to remember that public sector workers are employed and paid for by the great British taxpayer. I sympathise with some of their demands, but does my right hon. Friend agree that their first loyalty should be to the British taxpayer, not some power-crazed union barons who fund the Labour party and have, in the past, paid off Labour MPs’ mortgages?

Question

I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. With the Royal College of Emergency Medicine highlighting more than 300 excess deaths every single week, where is the Government’s minimum service level agreement to the public? The best way to avert a strike is to negotiate. Within the Secretary of State’s legislation, what obligations will there be on Government to enter meaningful negotiations, and how does he describe “meaningful”?

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My right hon. Friend was right to mention other European countries, but he could have added to that list South Africa, Argentina, Australia and Canada, all of which are members of the International Labour Organisation and have minimum service levels in essential services. In every single case, the ILO has reviewed the MSL and determined it to be a necessary and proportionate restriction of the article 11 right to strike. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the British people are entitled to exactly the same lawful protection and to have their basic needs met at times of industrial action in essential services?

Question

Every single concern that the Secretary of State and all those on the Government Benches have raised so far is already covered by existing legislation, because trade unions are legally obliged to provide life and limb cover. That is the existing law. Will the Secretary of State tell us what the difference is between that and his proposed legislation? That will be the test of whether the new legislation is an attack on workers.

Question

Last week I met Daniel Jobsz, who runs the Wardrobe Bar and Kitchen in the City. He did not open last week; he said there was no point, because of the rail strike. Before Christmas, he lost tens of thousands of pounds because people were cancelling, as they could not come into central London because of the rail strike. UKHospitality calculates that around £1 billion of business was lost in central London because of the rail strikes. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, while it is right to protect the right to strike, there must be legislation in place to protect businesses in other sectors, such as hospitality, and to protect workers from job losses?

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I have listened carefully to what the Secretary of State has had to say, and however he tries to dress it up, this is part of an alarming authoritarian drift. We have an attack on the democratic right to strike, an attack on the democratic right to vote through attempted vote rigging, with the introduction of voter ID, and an attack on the democratic right to peaceful protest. Is the Secretary of State not ashamed to be a member of the most authoritarian Government in Britain in living memory?

Question

Last week, rail users in Guildford trying to get in and out of the constituency, including key workers, were completely cut off because there were zero trains. At no point have the Opposition condemned widespread strike action that disrupts the public. Will my right hon. Friend join me in asking the Opposition to back the measures we are putting forward, to keep the public safe and to keep our economy going and growing?

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I know that the Secretary of State likes to fly around in his own private plane, but I can tell him for a fact that while he has been doing that, many nurses in my constituency have been accessing food banks. This Government seem very uncomfortable with nurses standing on picket lines but totally relaxed about them lining up to get food for their families at food banks. If this Government are serious about stopping the strikes, surely now is the time to pay these essential workers properly.

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My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to bring forward these proportionate measures, and not least in the urgency with which he seeks to protect the safety and lives of all our constituents at risk from strike action. Children have suffered in these strikes; many children in Buckinghamshire use the railways to get to school. Does he agree that when the consultation comes forward, the ability of children to get to school on the railways must be included in the minimum service levels?

Question

Can the Secretary of State not just for once acknowledge the stress levels of workers—postal workers, rail workers, health workers and teachers—who have had 10 years of frozen pay and 10 years of reducing living standards and are going through enormous stress at work, with many leaving the teaching and nursing professions as a result of it? Nobody is likely to vote to take strike action unless it is an act of desperation; they do it because they want to get decent pay for themselves, their loved ones and their families. Can he not for once face the issue of the poverty that people face, rather than trying to bring in draconian laws to prevent people from taking effective action to remedy the injustice that they are facing?

Question

Does my right hon. Friend agree that when unions such as the RMT reduce their customary referendum period from 14 to six days to force through a false ballot result to strike and then go to strike straightaway, against what are necessarily the wishes of all members, this is an important statement to make and an important piece of legislation? Will he confirm how promptly he will bring forward this Bill?

Question

I noticed a moment ago that the Secretary of State said that striking workers were in danger of pushing up interest rates. I remind him that many of those people are on strike because they cannot afford their mortgages or rent as a result of the hike in interest rates caused by his colleagues’ economic incompetence.

Question

I proudly put on the record my entry on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a former teacher and a former trade union member and representative for the NASUWT. I am very worried seeing teachers going on strike, because it is the pupils who will suffer most, particularly disadvantaged pupils from areas such as Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke.

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Nurses’ pay down 20%, teachers’ pay down 20%, firefighters’ pay down 12%, junior doctors’ pay down 26%—these are the consequences of 13 years of Tory rule. Let us be honest and talk about the real problem here: it is not workers going on strike, but the Tory Government and the economy they have built, which forcers workers to strike.

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Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is not often I get called to speak before halfway through, but I am very pleased to have been called. The sentiments expressed inside this Chamber about seeking a solution do not appear to match the negotiations outside of it.

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The Government’s failed industrial relations approach has led to the worst strikes in decades. Sadly, they have often sought to scupper talks by throwing in last-minute spanners.

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When the Tory party spoke about taking back control, none of us thought that would mean suppressing votes with voter ID legislation, a policing and crime Act that curbs the right to protest, a House of Lords with unelected clerics and a Government who are withdrawing the basic fundamental human right to strike.

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From the way the Secretary of State is speaking, one might think he is the knight on a white charger coming to rescue the system. Let us be clear, however, that it was this Government who froze pay in the public sector and then increased it below inflation.

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It is astonishing that comparisons are being made with Franco’s Spain and the Vichy regime in France. Many elements of UK laws already do not comply with ILO regulations; we are one of the most restrictive anti-worker countries in the world. The Government should stop blowing up talks with trade unions, as they did against NHS workers over the weekend and against RMT by dropping driver-only operation into the talks. Instead of ending strikes, the Government has escalated conflict with working people who are suffering due to poor governance.

Question

The Secretary of State’s opening statement about key workers is warm but ignores the fact that by refusing to address fair pay demands, staff morale will be depleted and more people will leave the service, exacerbating staffing shortages. Lecturing on safe staffing levels when healthcare workers say they are unsafe is ridiculous; proper wages would ensure staffing.

Question

This statement is an attack on fundamental employment rights, caused by 12 years of Conservative Government failure to invest in public services leading to workers taking industrial action. Instead of protecting service levels, the Government should fund and resource vital services properly.

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Minimum service levels undermine legitimate disputes by forcing workers to work against their wishes. Paying proper wages and giving appropriate resources would ensure effective job performance; why does the Government need new laws to drive down key workers' wages?

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Trade union members are hard-working public members; confirm whether the reported £320 million has been paid to train operators during strikes and how much would settle disputes. When will driver-only operated trains stop being forced through, and when will NHS get workforce strategies?

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My hon. Friend and I supported striking workers last week without permission issues; TransPennine and Avanti West Coast struggle with minimum services. Is Scottish independence needed to ensure key workers are fully protected?

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Measures outlined today attack key workers' rights; when negotiation fails, the Government legislate. Do these proposals risk breaching human rights legislation and modern-day slavery law? Should grievances be addressed instead of curbing democratic right to strike?

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The MP referred to his union memberships and criticised the Government for not negotiating with nurses, failing to avert transport strikes, and introducing plans that distract from their own failures. He also pointed out inconsistencies in the Secretary of State's social media posts.

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The MP questioned why 'bullyboy' legislation is necessary if the Government cared as much about public services as workers do, arguing that such strikes and disputes are normal occurrences.

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The MP highlighted the justified grievances of workers at Warrington’s North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust and questioned if any would face disciplinary actions for withdrawing labour.

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The MP expressed support for key workers who went on strike during the pandemic due to living costs pressures and urged the Secretary of State to engage in resolution discussions.

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The MP asked about discussions between the Secretary of State and the Chancellor regarding a fair funding settlement for Scottish public sector workers.

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The MP criticised the proposed legislation as criminalizing workers' legitimate disputes and likened it to historical labour movements that were suppressed.

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The MP cited a TUC report on long-term wage stagnation and criticised the Government's stance of both reducing real-terms pay and legislating to enforce it.