UK Government accused of behaving like ‘dictatorial regime’ as they launch anti-trade union laws harming worker’s rights

The Conservative government has been accused of behaving like a ‘dictatorial regime’ as they launch new anti-trade union laws, harming the rights of UK workers.

The government’s proposed new anti-trade union laws would require workers across a range of frontline and key occupations – from nurses and teachers to rail workers and firefighters – to maintain a minimum service during disputes.

The laws could mean any workers who refuse to comply with unfair pay or conditions could be sacked, with trade unions who defend worker’s rights being sued and driven to bankruptcy.

A petition launched by the Enough is Enough campaign group opposing the draconian laws received over 100,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.

🚨 BREAKING: GOVT LAUNCHES ATTACK ON RIGHT TO STRIKE

• New law will force workers to work against their will

• Nurses, teachers, firefighters & more targeted

• Workers to be sacked if they refuse to cross pickets

Join the campaign to fight back: https://t.co/HMAoIlEoMv

— Enough is Enough (@eiecampaign) January 4, 2023

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the laws would amount to “conscription” of workers who would be “forced to work against their will” despite being in favour of strike action.

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack argues it would be a “highly authoritarian” move that is “more in keeping with dictatorial regimes.”

With British workers already facing the strictest anti-trade union laws in Western Europe, the government’s latest proposals pose a huge threat to freedom in the workplace.

“The right to strike is a fundamental democratic right,” the 100,000-strong petition says, “it underpins our ability to win dignity in the workplace and earn a decent standard of living.”

Enough is Enough is planning to follow the petition with local meetings, rallies and protests across Britain in the coming weeks.

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: “The Tories are clearly hellbent on criminalising and victimising trade unions with this threatened onslaught on the right to strike.

"This is going to have to be resisted on the streets, through campaigns and through industrial action. We can’t do that alone. We need everyone with us."@RMTunion's Mick Lynch on why we need to defend the right to strike.

RT if you're with him 👊https://t.co/scJ4e4z3IJ

— Enough is Enough (@eiecampaign) January 5, 2023

“To allow exploitative and vindictive bosses to pursue trade unionists in the courts would be a highly authoritarian move, and more in keeping with the actions of a dictatorial regime.”

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The right to withdraw your labour is a fundamental civil liberty. It is as fundamental as the right to free expression or the right to protest.

“The government’s new laws would conscript workers to work against their will. If we don’t resist this, we will live in a society where freedoms and rights are severely restricted.”

Enough is Enough campaign national coordinator Ronan Burtenshaw said: “The government claims it needs to introduce this legislation to protect ‘essential’ services.

“But those services ran just fine not so long ago. The workers running them don’t want to strike, they have a deep sense of public service.

“The solution is obvious: pay the workers as if they are essential.”

The SNP’s deputy Westminster leader Mhairi Black condemned the “immoral proposals”, saying the Tories continued to speak to the “hard-right rhetoric that has Westminster in a choke hold”.

New plan for anti-union laws – A disgraceful attack on workers’ rights.
Tories want workers to simply accept poverty pay and not complain.
This includes some of our response.#SupportTheStrikes

Employers could sue unions under planned anti-strike laws https://t.co/0oCthEHRdD

— Matt Wrack (@MattWrack) January 5, 2023

“Just months ago, the UK Government applauded key workers – now, they are threatening them with the sack if they go on strike. It’s utterly shameful”, she said.

Black continued: “The SNP condemn these plans in the strongest possible terms, which contrast starkly with the constructive role the SNP Scottish Government has played in recent pay disputes north of the border”.

The Scottish Greens have said that “nothing terrifies the Tories more than working people coming together”.

MSP Maggie Chapman said: “The attacks we are seeing on the rights of unions are not just an attack on the right to organise, they are also an attack on terms and conditions and on everything that the trade union movement has achieved.

“Whether it is a minimum wage, paid holidays or weekends, these rights have been hard fought and won by organised unionised workers.

“Trade unions are, and always have been, instrumental in securing better working conditions and rights for all of us.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has a net worth of an estimated £730 million, and who has also refused to comment on whether his family use the NHS or private healthcare, has been criticised for failing to allow talks to take place between the unions and government.

In a written statement, transport secretary Grant Shapps, confirmed the safety net of minimum service levels was designed “to ensure that the public are not put at risk during strike action is the best way of balancing the ability to strike, while protecting the wider public”.

He also confirmed that the reforms would allow agency workers “to fill vital staffing gaps caused by industrial strike action”.