The government is considering legislation that will reduce the impact of future industrial action by restricting the ability of ambulance workers and firefighters to go on strike, the BBC’s Chris Mason reports.
It comes as nurses, paramedics, rail workers, postal staff and Border Force personnel are set to strike in the weeks ahead.
The government has not yet decided what shape the legislation will take and has not committed to a timeframe, but prime minister Rishi Sunak is said to be keen to introduce it as soon as possible.
One course of action ministers could take is extending plans to bring in Minimum Service Level Agreements. Initially intended for the public transport industry, this could be rolled out into other sectors such as the emergency services.
While extending Minimum Service Level Agreements won’t remove the right to strike, it will place restrictions upon how limited services can be on strike days.
Talks are ongoing between the Department of Health and trade unions, as ministers seek to guarantee a broader emergency response on days where industrial action is taken.
Under current plans for strike days, emergency services would respond to emergency incidents where there was a threat to life, while others would be ignored. This is something that the government wants to change.
Should unions refuse to relent on the matter, Mason suggests that it may lead ministers down the path of implementing legislation to guarantee that acceptable minimum services remain in place.
Prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said that the government had a responsibility to act if disruption reached unacceptable levels and workers' unions refused to engage.
He said: “It is my responsibility to make sure everyone can be kept safe, and we can minimise the disruption on their day-to-day lives, and I will do what I need to do to make sure that is the case.”
Sunak also talked-up the need for people to be able to “go about their day-to-day lives free of the enormous disruption these strikes are going to cause.”
However, it is unlikely that any new legislation the government could bring to Parliament will be in place by January, meaning that it won’t ease the impact of industrial action announced for December.
Meanwhile, general secretary of the Unite trade union, Sharon Graham, struck a defiant tone, saying that unions would continue to “jump over” any further “hurdles” put in their way by government.
Graham said: “We are ready industrially and financially. I will continue to fight and win for workers.”
Image by UK Prime Minister - OGL 3, sourced from Wikimedia Commons
