The threat of trade unions preparing to plunge Britain into a period of 1970s-style industrial unrest with a spring general strike is causing many employers to look to the government for reformed strike laws. In particular, to ensure that strikes reflect the democratic will of the majority of their members, as opposed to the minority who actually vote.
A change in tone from the government last week suggests that such reform may happen, if the trade unions move ahead with coordinated strike action. Mr Cameron told MPs that he was happy to consider the arguments for such reform as he did “not want to see a wave of irresponsible strikes, not least when they are not supported by a majority of people taking part”. ”
Martin Warren, Human Resources Practice Group Head at international law firm Eversheds LLP commented: “While there is a rising threat of strikes this Spring, we are a far cry from a 1970’s general strike. The average annual number of days lost to strikes in the 1970’s was 12.9 million, compared to just 455,200 in 2009. It should also be remembered that changes in strike laws mean that a general strike against the government’s deficit reduction would be unlawful.
“It is because of this legal threat that the trade unions are currently reported to be planning the coordination of a number of local employer disputes to take place at the same time. This will challenge trade unions as it involves comprehensive organisation by a number of different trade unions involved in diverse disputes with their employers. While clearly disruptive to employers and the public, it is not a 1970’s general strike.
The CBI, God bless ’em, woke up to this issue a little while ago – but still rather late.
Unfortunately none of the Cabinet have any experience of dealing with difficult IR situations and truculent unions, and David C seems to have a Ted Heath (and we know what a disaster he was) view of the situation – just explain the gravity of the situation and the need for change and the union leadership will see sense. That is a pipe dream, especially with the likes of Crow and Serwotka around.
Add to that the fact that there are few Personnel (not HR!) practitioners around who have experience of dealing with industrial disputes and knowledge of the way to manage them, and I believe we are heading for a train wreck.
At the very least we need to roll back the restrictions on firing strikers (after a notice period) and the use of agency workers during a strike introduced by the last Government. Couple that with a requirement for a strike ballot to be supported by a majority of eligible voters and a doubling of the penalty for breaking the law and we might be able to get through the next yaera or so without too much damage to the economy.
The questions are though – has David C got the b**ls and will his LibDem partners stay with the fairies and resist any change in legislation? I don’t feel confident!
The way to prevent strikes is with good industrial relations. Management who are willing to reward and lead innovatively rather than imposing and masking archaic management practices behind management speak and glossy tags.
The proposals I have read and heard in terms of imposing a higher democratic measure on striking workers than applies to governments; opinion polls; focus groups etc
If you applied the rule that you could only implement a government if you had a majority of those eligible to vote rather than just those who vote. We currently would not have had a government for a good many years.
Representative democracy only applies to politicians