UK move to allow agency workers to cover strikes struck down by court

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) – The British government’s decision to allow companies to hire agency staff to cover striking workers was overturned on Thursday by London’s High Court, which upheld a legal challenge by 13 unions that it was illegal.

The change to regulations last year, during a continuing wave of disputes over wages and conditions, made it easier for companies to use temporary staff during industrial actions.

But the 13 unions, representing around 3 million workers, argued that Britain is violating union rights with the regulations, which they say could worsen labor disputes and endanger public safety.

Judge Thomas Linden upheld the unions’ legal challenge in a written ruling on Thursday and struck down the regulations.

A spokesman for the Department of Business and Commerce said it was disappointed with the ruling and the government was carefully considering its next steps.

“The ability to strike is important, but we maintain that there must be a reasonable balance between this and the rights of companies and the public,” the spokesperson added.

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, urged the government not to appeal the ruling.

“Ministers should spare themselves further embarrassment,” he said in a statement. “These cynical strike-breaking agency labor laws must be thrown out once and for all.”

Last year, then-business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the changes would remove “onerous 1970s-style restrictions” that prevent employment agencies from supplying workers to replace those on strike, which previously it was a criminal offence.

But the unions argued that the government made the changes illegally without consulting them, but rather based on a 2015 consultation, pre-Brexit, the COVID pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

Linden said in his ruling that there was virtually no consultation prior to the decision and Kwarteng “did not even consider the information available on the responses to the 2015 consultation.”

Unions welcomed the ruling, with Unite describing it as “a total demand for unions and workers.”

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “No one ever wants to go on strike. But when that difficult decision has been made, employers should throw out everything but the kitchen sink to end a dispute, not inflame tensions by undermining staff”.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak offered teachers, doctors and other workers salary increases of 6% and more, seeking to end months of crippling public sector strikes, but warned it would cost billions that could mean cuts elsewhere.

Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Kylie MacLellan and Mark Heinrich

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