2016 has been a turbulent year and it seems to be going out with a bang, in what some have dubbed a "winter of discontent". According to recent BBC analysis, in the first 10 months of the year 218,300 working days were lost to industrial action. We've seen a week of industrial action from rail workers and postal workers, and airlines are also anticipating disruption over the festive period. It's been reported that Weetabix employees have voted to strike in the new year, so it doesn't look things are going to slow down.
This is in a year where the Government amended trade union legislation to increase ballot thresholds, introduce new information and timing requirements in relation to industrial action, and impose legal requirements on unions for the supervision of picketing. However, the key provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016 have not come into force as yet and the Government has not set out any specific timetable for implementation.
Current legislation in force provides that industrial action will be unlawful unless at least 50% of trade union members who responded to the ballot voted in favour of the action. When the relevant provision of the new Act is brought into force, in addition to a majority being in favour of the action, unions will be required to show that at least 50% of all eligible members have voted.
Notwithstanding the new legislation, transport minister, Chris Grayling, and a number of other Tory backbenchers, have called for additional anti-strike laws. It's not clear what such new laws would actually entail but Downing Street has been quick to distance itself from the calls, instead putting its faith in the power of negotiation and stressing that Parliament has already passed legislation to provide people with better protection from undemocratic industrial action. It looks like ACAS, the organisation devoted to preventing and resolving employment disputes, is going to be having a very merry Christmas.
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