Government faces High Court battle over plan to break strikes with agency workers

Union leaders say policy is attack on liberty

Nurses are among workers set to take strike action (Jane Barlow/PA) (PA Wire)

The High Court has granted permission for a legal challenge against the government's controversial move to allow agency workers to be brought in to break strikes.

11 trade unions representing millions of workers and the TUC brought a case against the policy.

Over the summer the government repealed a longstanding law banning agency workers from being brought in during stoppages.

Then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng described the rules as "burdensome" and claimed they would allow "honest, hardworking people to get on with their lives".

But speaking today after the High Court gave the challenge the green light, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the government appeared "hellbent" on attacking the liberty to strike "at every opportunity".

"Threatening this right tilts the balance of power too far towards employers. It means workers can't stand up for decent services and safety at work – or defend their jobs and pay," she said.

“With inflation at an eye-watering 11 per cent, ministers are shamelessly falling over themselves to find new ways to make it harder for working people to bargain for better pay and conditions.

“And these attacks on the right to strike are likely illegal. Ministers failed to consult with unions, as the law requires. And restricting the freedom to strike is a breach of international law."

A hearing for the challenge is due from late March next year, meaning it will come too late to affect strikes happening over the Christmas period.

Workers across sectors including nursing, postal services, rail, buses have scheduled walk-outs as pay offers fail to keep up with record inflation.

The unions argue that the regulations allowing agency workers to be brought in are unlawful on two grounds. Firstly, they say the business secretary failed to consult unions, as required by the Employment Agencies Act 1973.

More fundamentally, they argue the change violates fundamental trade union rights protected by Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, said the the policy was a “direct contravention of the Government’s international commitments and obligations” on the right to strike.

And Richard Arthur, Head of Trade Union Law at Thompsons Solicitors, which represents the unions in the legal dispute said:

“This is a timely reminder that the government is not above the law when it tries to restrict the rights of working people to take industrial action.

“The Court has agreed with the trade unions that the government’s decision-making should be scrutinised against UK and international legal standards at a hearing to take place from late March onwards.”