The People Bulletin

As The People Bulletin went to press on 30 June, schools, museums and airports closed as staff came out on strike in protest about changes to public-sector pensions. Further background on the pensions dispute can be read in our earlier coverage, ‘Pampered pensioners? Or betrayed public servants?’

Although the figures of whether as many as 750,000 workers did actually down tools on the day, it was hardly something the government could shrug off.

Writing in the Guardian that evening, Michael White observed that, for the unions, “The day was a respectable, but not sensational, success.”[1]

The debate on whether strike laws should be amended is likely to rumble on. Sky News reported that David Cameron told political journalists in Westminster earlier that month: “"I note that only one in five PCS members voted for strike action…We keep the issue of labour market laws under review."[2] The CBI has repeatedly called for strikes to only be approved if at least 40% of the eligible workforce actually support industrial action.

This was something picked up by The Economist which reminded its readers “…Britain still has strict strike laws. There is no enshrined right to down tools, as there is in France and Italy. In practice, the situation is in a muddle.”[3]

According to research from the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the number of working days lost to strike in the UK is 23.8 per 1,000 employees, compared to 6.2 in Germany, one in the US and one in Japan.  And the Germans have no requirement for a workplace ballot before strike action can be taken.

Nick Squire, an employment law partner at the firm said: “A very simple question lies at the heart of industrial action legislation – where to draw the balance between an employee’s right to withdraw his labour and the freedom of a company to run its business? Even a very subtle shift in the scales can have a significant impact, making it either much easier or harder to go on strike. The pendulum typically swings towards the employee and trade unions in countries which see very high levels of industrial action.’[4] 

 See also: 'Across the picket line' by Lisa Patmore in The People Bulletin, 21 April 2010

[1] www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/30/public-sector-pensions-policy 

[2]  http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Strike-Ballots-Debate-Over-Minimum-Turnout-In-Union-Ballots-Back-On-Agenda-After-PCS-Vote/Article/201106316012582

[3] www.economist.com/node/18898371?story_id=18898371&fsrc=rss 

[4] www.freshfields.com/news/mediareleases/mediarelease.asp?id=2500