Government confirms it will repeal minimum levels of service Act

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The Government has confirmed it will repeal the controversial law which aimed to ensure a minimum level of service during strikes.

The Conservative government took forward the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act last year in response to the unprecedented wave of industrial action by hundreds of thousands of workers over pay, jobs and conditions.

The move sparked fury among unions, with warnings that workers faced being sacked for going on strike.

Labour promised to repeal the Act if it won the election and today confirmed it was taking action.

Ministers said industrial action in the NHS alone cost the taxpayer £1.7 billion last year with many other sectors also seeing costs and impacts to public services, adding that it proved “strong but fair“ negotiation was key to tackling issues between workers and employers.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds have written to the Government departments with sectors most impacted by strikes: Education, Health, Transport, the Home Office and Energy, as well as Welsh and Scottish governments, to give a “clear message” that legislation will be repealed.

They have also written to all 12 metro mayors across the country to start engaging with local employers on the change.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “Attempting to clamp down on the fundamental freedom of working people has got us nowhere and this was targeted at sectors who dedicate their lives to serving us all.

“That’s why we’re scrapping this pointless law and creating a new partnership between business, trade unions and working people through our New Deal.

“Repealing this legislation is the first part of our plan to reset industrial relations so they are fit for a modern economy.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We need to get Britain’s economy moving again, deliver growth and the public services which taxpayers deserve.

“The Strikes Act has not worked – unbelievably the UK has lost more days due to strike action than France, costing the taxpayer billions of pounds, and these divisive laws haven’t resolved a single strike since they were introduced.

“By removing minimum service levels, we will reset industrial relations, so they are based on good faith negotiation and bargaining, ending the chaos and restoring trust in public services. This is about restoring politics as public service, ensuring Government acts to fix problems not cause them.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Public services work best when governments listen to and engage constructively with their workforces.

“The TUC and countless experts repeatedly warned the previous Conservative administration that its vindictive minimum service levels (MSLs) were unworkable and would only worsen and prolong disputes.

“Strikes are resolved around the table – not through legislating away dissent, but the Tories insisted on railroading MSLs through Parliament in order to score headlines and look tough to backbenchers.

“It speaks volumes that not one single employer to date has issued a work notice ordering staff to break a strike. They too can see how toxic these laws are.

“The new Government is right to repeal this spiteful legislation. It’s time for a new, grown-up era of industrial relations.”

Rachel Suff of the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, said:  “When it was first proposed, we expressed concerns this law would not enhance employment relations or protect the public and that it could undermine trust between trade unions and employers.

“Good employment relations start with collaboration and partnership, and we support the repeal of this legislation which many employers had raised concerns about.”

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, whose strikes sparked the Conservative government’s minimum services legislation, said: “We welcome this move as an opportunity to reset industrial relations in Britain and to move to a position of negotiating just settlements to disputes rather than having trade unions attacked and demonised.

“This success of ensuring the repeal of minimum service legislation is a direct result of the concerted efforts by the trade union movement, and we will continue to champion the interests of railway staff, seafarers and offshore workers.”

Royal College of Nursing general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Nursing staff are a safety-critical workforce in health and care services, and when you prevent them from speaking out, you put patients at risk. The government is absolutely right to heed our calls to repeal an Act that was harmful to industrial relations and did nothing to advance the cause of high-quality and safe patient care.

“The government must soon go the whole way and remove the remaining anti-union legislation and continue on this mature approach to relations with public sector workers and their representatives.”

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “This was a terrible law. It’s great the government is ditching it so early on. Good riddance to a bad law.

“This legislation should have never reached the statute book. No one wanted minimum service levels, only a spiteful government watching power drain away and desperate to shore up its rapidly disappearing support.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders union NAHT, said: “We welcome the new government’s move to scrap these proposals, which were a vindictive ideologic attack on a basic democratic freedom.”

Phil Banfield, chairman of the BMA council, said: “The repeal of this legislation has been a long, hard fight and we welcome its demise.

“The minimum services level law was a cynical attempt to respond to workers’ genuine concerns around their pay and conditions by suppressing them rather than working with them.

“Such draconian measures quite rightly belong in the dustbin of legislative history.

“The new Government has recognised that it costs far less to negotiate a settlement with NHS workers than it does to try and fight them.

“The way to a better health service is not through suppressing its workers in the name of “safety” but by collaborating with them to make sure that we have an NHS that is safe and effective every day.”