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Sep 21, 2015 · A widespread workers' consciousness formed in the UK from the peak of the Chartist movement in the 1830s, leading to a wave of strikes in 1842. Those strikes have been viewed as the first...
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In the post-war period, unions were seen as a vital institution in society, much like the free press. Their power reached its disruptive peak in February 1974, when, during a miners’ strike, Conservative prime minister Edward Heath called an early electionon a platform promising to break the power of unions. The public rejected his offering and he ...
The 1980s saw the anti-union legislative drive begin apace. Laws were introduced gradually, with each new act indicative of the growing confidence of governments in their ability to limit union power. The Employment Act 1980was the first of these. It required unions to replace in-person ballots with postal votes. Thatcher believed the change would ...
A second Employment Actrestricted what counts as a “trade dispute”, effectively outlawing secondary, or “sympathy” strike action. Unions could no longer ballot in support of each other – a key part of their ideals of solidarity and collective pressure. Whereas teachers might once have gone on strike in support of nurses, the 1982 act made this ille...
In 1984, the Trade Union Actmade secret ballots a legal requirement for any strike to be legal. Fans of the 1984 act note that it returned control of the union to its members, although critics suggested it vilified union leaders, portraying them as “barons” taking advantage of their members. The Thatcherite position on this was justified when, duri...
Retaining the theme of protecting “moderate” trade unionists from “barons”, the Thatcher government introduced the Employment Act 1988. This protected workers who refused to strike from being punished. This could further be used as propaganda by employers and the government to portray unions as villains, and those trying to go to work as heroes.
Changes to the Employment Actin 1990 granted employers the ability to dismiss workers who took part in unofficial strike action. Any subsequent strike action relating to that dismissal would also be unlawful, further entrenching the power of employers over unions.
John Major’s government introduced the Trade Unions and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act, which states that a union must be recognised by an employer before legal industrial action can happen. A large group of employees could belong to a union, but if the employer did not recognise it, then no industrial relations could occur.
A minimum of seven days’ notice before strike action was required by the 1993 Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act, giving employers time to undermine or otherwise minimise the consequences of strike action. With the disruption caused by strike action reduced, it became harder for unions to make their case heard, reducing the visibility of ...
New Labour’s 1997 election victory brought hope that trade union influence would be restored. However, this did not occur. Workers were instead supported indirectly through mechanisms such as minimum wage, which had a secondary effect of reducing union power, by reducing the need for collective bargaining. The Conservatives returned to power in 201...
In July, the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations Act was repealedto allow employers to hire temporary agency workers to undercut strike action. The maximum penalty a union could face for conducting an unlawful strike was raised to £1 million. Now, the government is proposing a law that would mean that employers in fiv...
- Steven Daniels
Aug 6, 2024 · The government has today [Tuesday 6 August] announced it will repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 to get public services back on track and strengthen the rights of working...
Jan 5, 2023 · The UK is facing widespread strikes that have drawn comparisons with the 1979 winter of discontent - but what has previous industrial action achieved?
Jul 20, 2023 · The Strikes (Minimum Service Level) Act has today [Thursday 20 July] received Royal Assent in Parliament, ensuring workers maintain the ability to strike whilst giving the public access to the...
Oct 5, 2015 · The period 1964-2014 can be divided into three sub-periods: high-strike activity until 1979; a transition period of “coercive pacification” in the 1980s; and unprecedentedly low-strike activity since the early 1990s.
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Three strikes was a policy idea that first emerged in the United States and later appeared, in a more moderate form, in the United Kingdom. The policy content on both sides of the Atlantic was similar and the policy instruments displayed broad levels of similarity.
