The UK government plans to activate new Minimum Services legislation before Christmas for rail, ambulance, and border security staff to replace striking workers.

Earlier this year, the government consulted on proposals to introduce minimum service levels legislation across a range of sectors, under the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act which received Royal Assent in July. The responses to these consultations were published earlier this week with legislation laid out before parliament on Tuesday.

“The minimum service levels are designed to be effective and proportionate by balancing the ability to take strike action with ensuring we can keep our borders secure, supporting people to make important journeys including accessing work, education, and healthcare, and allowing people to get the emergency care they need,” the government stated.

The government also said it will launch a consultation on removing regulation 7 across all sectors which prevents employment businesses supplying agency workers to cover the duties normally performed by a worker who is taking part in an official strike or other industrial action. For border security, the regulations will apply to employees of Border Force and selected HM Passport Office staff where passport services are required for the purposes of national security. The laws will set out that border security services should be provided at a level that means that they are no less effective than if a strike were not taking place. It will also ensure all ports and airports remain open on a strike.

For train operators, it will mean the equivalent of 40% of their normal timetable can operate as normal and, in the case of strikes that affect rail infrastructure services, certain priority routes can remain open.

The government also stated, “Minimum service level regulations for ambulance workers will ensure that vital ambulance services in England will continue throughout any strike action, ensuring that cases that are life-threatening, or where there is no reasonable clinical alternative to an ambulance response, are responded to.”

The law also requires unions to ‘take reasonable steps and ensure their members who are identified with a work notice comply and if a union fails to do this, they will lose their legal protection from damages claims.’

According to the government, where minimum service level regulations are in place and strike action is called, employers can issue work notices to identify people who are reasonably required to work to ensure minimum service levels are met.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak commented, “We are doing everything in our power to stop unions de-railing Christmas for millions of people. This legislation will ensure more people will be able to travel to see their friends and family and get the emergency care they need. We cannot go on relying on short term fixes - including calling on our Armed Forces or civil servants - to mitigate the disruption caused by strike action.”

“That’s why we’re taking the right long-term decision to bring in minimum service levels, in line with other countries, to keep people safe and continue delivering the vital public services that hard-working people rely on,” Sunak added.

Last year, the government raised the maximum damages that courts can award against a union for unlawful strike action. For the biggest unions, the maximum award has risen from £250,000 to £1 million.

The Department of Health and Social Care is also currently seeking evidence on expanding the scope of minimum service levels to cover other urgent and emergency hospital-based services which could include nurses and doctors. The consultation is set to close on 14 November.

Furthermore, the Education Secretary has committed to introduce minimum service levels on a voluntary basis should an agreement be reached with the education unions. If a voluntary arrangement cannot be agreed, a consultation will be launched on introducing minimum service levels in schools and colleges. Separately, the Department has also committed to launching a consultation on introducing minimum service levels in universities.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said, “We must never allow strike action to compromise our border security or cause significant disruption to passengers and goods at our borders. The Armed Forces have commendably stepped up to fill vital roles during recent industrial action, but it would be irresponsible to rely on such short-term solutions to protect our national security.”

Braverman said the minimum service levels “will ensure a fair balance between delivering the best possible service to the travelling public, maintaining a secure border and the ability of workers to strike.”

TUC (Trades Union Congress) General Secretary Paul Nowak, “These anti-strike laws won’t work. The crisis in our public services is of the government’s own making. Rather than engaging constructively with unions, they are attacking the right to strike. And they are punishing paramedics and rail staff for daring to stand up for decent pay and better services.”

“These new laws are unworkable, undemocratic and almost certainly in breach of international law,” Nowak said. “Unions will keep fighting this spiteful legislation. We won’t stop until it is repealed.”

In September the TUC reported the government to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) over the Strikes Act.

Use of agencies workers in strikes

The government said it would also consult on plans to remove regulations that prevent employers from supplying agency workers to cover the duties normally performed by striking workers despite the fact that, earlier this year, the High Court in London ruled that the UK government’s agency worker regulations are unlawful, after a successful legal challenge by 13 trade unions.

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive for the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, said, “The announcement of a consultation on whether to remove the prohibition on use of agency workers in strikes is a disappointment, given the scale of opposition from employers and workers to the previous proposal. We will represent the views of agencies fully in response to the consultation.”

“Neither agencies or trade unions think this change promotes effective strike resolution or protects agency workers,” Carberry continued. “Strikes are industrial disputes within a single industry or firm. Inserting a third party like this into an industrial dispute may end up extending the dispute, not least by inflaming tensions. It is also puzzling that the government assumes agency staff will choose a role that requires them to cross a picket line versus one that doesn’t, when we have two million job postings in the UK.”

Nowak said, “Allowing unscrupulous employers to bring in agency staff to deliver important services risks endangering public safety and escalating disputes. Agency recruitment bodies have repeatedly made clear they don’t want their staff to be used as political pawns during strikes. But ministers are not listening.

“Despite suffering a humiliating defeat at the High Court, they are bringing back the same irrational plans,” Nowak continued. “This is the act of desperate government looking to distract from its appalling record.”

Many other groups criticised the government’s strike plans.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) general secretary Mick Lynch said the legislation was clearly an authoritarian attack on the fundamental freedoms of working people and RMT would resist this attack by all means necessary.

“We believe employers have the discretion not to issue minimum service work notices and as such we are calling on them not to issue them. Any employer that seeks to issue a work notice will find themselves in a further dispute with my union,” Lynch said. “Even the government’s own impact assessment has said that the legislation could lead to more strikes so instead of attacking workers and their trade unions the government should spend its time trying to resolve disputes not inflaming them.”

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, issued a statement published in The Guardian, “This government’s failed approach has led to the worst strikes in decades and now they’re getting their excuses in early for Christmas. Rishi Sunak is offering another sticking plaster to distract from the Conservatives’ track record of failure. We all want minimum standards of service and staffing but it’s Tory ministers who are consistently failing to provide them.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports Scottish ministers say they will refuse to co-operate with UK government legislation designed to ensure minimum levels of service during strikes. Holyrood cabinet secretary Neil Gray condemned the ‘appalling’ plan ahead of the King's Speech at Westminster.

Gray, cabinet secretary for wellbeing economy, fair work and energy, added, "Ministers strongly oppose any Act that undermines legitimate trade union activity and does not respect fair work principles. This is another appalling piece of anti-trade union, anti-worker legislation from Westminster that will harm, not improve industrial relations."

The UK government's introduction of the Minimum Service Levels Act is in direct contradiction to that, ignores the devolution settlement and fails to recognise the authority of the Scottish government in devolved areas,” Gray continued. "So we will continue to do all we can to oppose this legislation and will not co-operate with establishing any minimum service orders here."