Rail workers & bus drivers; Royal Mail staff & postal workers; teachers & university staff; doctors & nurses; refuse collectors; civil servants; and even criminal defence barristers – there are few industries that have been untouched by strike action in the last few years, particularly in the public sector. ACAS has, unsurprisingly, reported a surge in the use of its collective conciliation service, a service which had otherwise been in decline for several decades.
The current economic climate has undoubtedly led to a greater polarisation in the positions of those involved in collective bargaining, but that of itself isn’t enough to explain the recent high levels of turbulence and why Trade Unions are increasingly keen to mobilise the workforce. The use of strike action, once a deterrent of last resort, has been moved up the agenda and is now more likely to be raised much earlier in the negotiation process.
ACAS have published an interesting report on collective workplace dispute resolution, prepared by researchers from Manchester Metropolitan, Warwick and Glasgow Universities. Exploring the factors giving rise to industrial action, the findings point to economic pressures (rising inflation and stagnant wages fuelling discontent among workers); new representation in previously non-unionised sectors (like the gig economy); and greater use of social media to both generate support for industrial action and tap into broader issues of social injustice.
Perhaps counter-intuitively, the report also finds that the previous decline in Trade Union influence and collective bargaining could play a significant role in understanding why disputes are now so quick to escalate and take longer to resolve. A general decrease in organisational knowledge about how to manage collective conflict, combined with reduced experience in formal negotiation processes, has manifested itself in wider starting positions, more entrenched views, and earlier recourse to strike threats. All making it significantly harder to reach agreement.
A copy of the report can be found here:
Seen from that perspective, it might be argued that increased Trade Union recognition is the solution, not the problem, to industrial discord, and that employers should be less concerned about the Union-bolstering provisions set out in Labour’s Employment Rights Bill. However, the fact that strike action will generally be made easier to achieve is unlikely to bring much comfort.
Key points of the Bill include:
• Increasing Awareness – Employers will be required to provide employees with a written statement confirming their right to join a Trade Union.
• Access Agreements– Trade Unions will gain improved access to workplaces to meet, recruit, support and represent members.
• Electronic Ballots: Modernising and simplifying voting procedures (away from mandatory postal voting) to increase participation.
• Reduced Reporting Requirements: Unions will no longer have to provide certain prescribed information on voting papers.
• Simplified Recognition Process: Reducing the percentage threshold of worker support required for union recognition both at the application stage and in the final ballot.
• Easier Industrial Action: Removing the requirement that at least 50% of members entitled to vote must do so, such that Unions will now only require a simple majority of members who respond.
• Removal of Previous Restrictions: Repealing the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, which requires a higher threshold of support for strike action in certain industries (fire, health, education, transport, border security).