The FDA, along with ten other unions, has begun legal proceedings to protect the right to strike following the government’s new regulations which allow agency staff to cover striking employees. Although the FDA does not currently have any planned strike action among our membership we recognise that the right to strike is a fundamental British liberty and attacks against this cannot go unchallenged. The FDA’s Assistant General Secretary, Lucille Thirlby, said that “the FDA is proud to support this challenge”. Thirlby went on to argue that “during a cost-of-living crisis, the government should be working to resolve industrial disputes, not stoking them with legislation that undermines the fundamental legal right to strike.”

As reported in the Huffington Post and the Guardian, this judicial review has been launched because the eleven unions believe that these new regulations are not only wrong, but unlawful. The then Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, failed to consult unions over these changes – a requirement of the Employment Agencies Act 1973. This judicial review also appeals to international law, arguing the regulations violate fundamental trade union rights that are protected by Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Richard Arthur of Thompsons Solicitors LLP said: “The right to strike is respected and protected by international law including the Conventions of the ILO, an agency of the United Nations, and the European Convention on Human Rights.”

The eleven unions that have launched this judicial review (FDA, ASLEF, BFAWU, GMB, NEU, NUJ, POA, PCS, RMT, Unite and Usdaw) are represented by social justice and trade union specialists, Thompsons Solicitors LLP. In addition, UNISON and NASUWT have already launched legal cases against the government over the regulations. Together these unions represent more than four million workers from a diverse range of sectors within the economy.

The FDA and other unions are being supported by the TUC – to which the FDA is affiliated. The TUC’s General Secretary, Frances O’Grady, argued that the government’s new regulations mean “workers can’t stand up for decent services and safety at work – or defend their jobs and pay”.