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- Law will ensure that transport services keep running during
strike action.
- The Bill will keep Britain moving, allow businesses
continuity of some services and allow passengers to still go to
work, school and medical appointments.
- Delivers on Prime Minister’s commitment to introduce the
legislation within first 30 days of Parliament sitting.
The Government has today taken the first steps to ensure
transport strikes no longer grind the country to a halt.
The Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill means, even
during the most disruptive of strikes, a certain level of
services will still run. This will allow passengers to go to
work, attend school and make vital medical appointments and
businesses to continue to grow the
economy.
As well as the huge impact on people’s day to day lives,
economists have assessed that the first wave of rail strikes
alone, in June 2022, cost the UK economy nearly £100m, putting
extra pressures on business and stopping people from across the
country accessing their workplace during a cost-of-living crisis.
This law will mean businesses and passengers are no longer
disproportionately and unfairly hit in the pocket through events
outside of their control and the decisions of striking workers
and the Unions.
The Prime Minister is delivering on her commitment to introduce
the legislation within her first 30 parliamentary sitting days
and meets a Conservative Party manifesto commitment to limit the
impact strikes have on hardworking people and businesses across
the country.
Prime Minister said:
“Hardworking people and businesses should not be held to ransom
by strike action which has repeatedly crippled our transport
network this year.
“This legislation delivers on our 2019 manifesto and will not
only limit the unions’ ability to paralyse our economy, but will
ensure passengers across the country can rightly continue to get
to work, school or hospital.”
Transport Secretary said:
“Strikes have affected nearly all of us over this last year –
whether that means losing out on a day’s pay at work, having to
close your business, missing vital medical appointments or
stopping our children from getting to school.
"It is vital that public transport users have some continuity of
service to keep Britain moving and growing - this legislation
will give everyone the certainty they need to carry on with their
daily lives."
The legislation will mean:
- A minimum service level must be in place during transport
strikes - if this is not delivered, the unions will lose legal
protections from damages.
- Employers will specify the workforce required to meet an
adequate service level during strikes and unions must take
reasonable steps to ensure an appropriate number of specified
workers still work on strike days.
- Specified workers who still take strike action will lose
their protection from automatic unfair dismissal.
The Bill will set out the legal framework to allow minimum
service levels to not only be set across the entire transport
sector, but also implemented and enforced. The specific details
of how minimum service levels will apply to transport services
will be set out in secondary legislation in due course after a
public consultation.
The intention of the legislation is that relevant employers and
unions agree a minimum service level to continue running during
all strikes over a three-month period. If such a level cannot be
agreed, an independent arbitrator - the Central Arbitration
Committee - will determine the minimum number of services.
The Bill will undertake its First Reading today (Thursday 20
October). The legislation is expected to come into force on
transport services across the country in 2023 and follows similar
rules already in place in countries across Europe, including
France and Spain.
Notes to editors
Economists at the Centre for Economics and Business Research
(CEBR) estimated, following the announcement of strike action,
that the three rail strikes in June 2022 could result in a
loss of UK economic output
of around £91 million.
