Six statutory instruments have been made under the Trade Union Act 2016, which now make it clear the Act will come into force on 1 March 2017.
The Trade Union Act prohibits industrial action (more accurately, the industrial action will not be protected by law and thus can be stopped by an injunction) unless there has been a ballot turnout of at least 50%.
In important public services, including in the health, education, transport, border security and fire sectors, an additional threshold of 40% of support to take industrial action from all eligible members must be met for action to be legal.
Comment
This legislation has been controversial, with the unions arguing that it interferes with their members’ human rights in relation to the right to strike. However, particularly in the face of the recent, damaging rail and tube strikes, the government has been keen to push it through. Interestingly, most of the public strikes that have been called in the last couple of years would have complied with the additional criteria.
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