Industrial Action

Baroness Blower Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blower (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister and the Government are being a little disingenuous when they refer to what happens in Europe. I am delighted to follow the noble Lord, Lord Balfe. The fact is that the countries the Minister listed, generally speaking, engage in sectoral collective bargaining, and where there are minimum service levels—if they are implemented at all; it is a moot point whether or not they are—they are within the framework of sectoral collective bargaining. The Minister will know that about 80% to 90% of workers in various areas in other countries are covered by sectoral collective bargaining, but that is not the case here. Will the Minister consider putting in place a structure for sectoral collective bargaining before we move to what is clearly unworkable legislation on this basis? While I am on my feet, perhaps I could ask the Minister to respond to my noble friend’s question about ACAS.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

There are not just minimum service level obligations in other European countries, there are outright bans on striking. For instance, there are bans on border security strikes in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Belgium. We are not proposing to go nearly as far as those countries have in banning strikes in these areas. We are merely suggesting that unions should provide minimum services during strikes. As for consultation, the legislation was drawn up very quickly and in haste. We have not been able to do all the consultation we would like, but noble Lords will be reassured to know that for the actual implementation of the secondary regulations—which will contain most of the detail—we will of course carry out full consultations.