Trade union laws are designed to support an effective and collaborative approach to resolving industrial disputes. As you may be aware, the Government is not responsible for decisions on pay. Well-established independent pay review process is the right way to set public sector pay – it provides independent, expert advice and is a neutral process in which all parties play a role. The Government is inviting trade unions to meet for honest, constructive conversations about what is fair and affordable in public sector pay settlements for 2023-24, and discuss the evidence that the Government will be submitting to the pay review bodies.
That said, the Government recognises the particular economic challenges the country faces this year. A balance must be struck between giving workers a fair and reasonable settlement and taking steps to continue to bring down inflation and protect households’ budgets. In this time of economic difficulties, inflation-matching pay awards that many of the unions are demanding will make the fight against inflation more challenging, risking interest rates, mortgage payments and bills rising for people as a result. This would erode the value of any pay increase for public sector workers and hurt households across the country.
The rights of some workers to strike must be balanced against the rights of the wider public to get on with their daily lives. strikes can, and do, cause significant disruption. That is particularly the case when they take place in important public services such as transport or in the NHS. It cannot be right that trade unions can, as we saw in the case of the recent rail strikes, seek to hold the country to ransom if their demands are not met.
The Government also has a duty to the public to ensure their safety, protect their access to vital public services, and help them go about their daily lives. Therefore, the Government has introduced the strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill for vital public services including health, education, fire and rescue, transport, nuclear decommissioning, and border security to maintain critical and in many cases life-saving services. We will consult first on MSLs for ambulances, fire, and rail.
This new legislation will allow the Government, NHS, the public and other services to plan properly for the running of services in times of strike – and ensure that striking workers are not inadvertently putting the public at risk. This package of measures will see the UK align with many countries across the world such as France and Spain that already have minimum service agreements in place, to prevent large swathes of their economies being ground to a halt by industrial action.