Analysis: New laws aim to make it easier for firms to use agency workers to break strikes, tilting the balance of power towards employers
When P&O Ferries bypassed unions and replaced 800 seafarers with agency workers in March, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said his government would “defend the rights of British workers”, and the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, brought in new rules that would make sure workers “are not undercut by employers”, he said. Three months later, the tune is very different.
New laws announced by the government on Thursday aim to make it easier for employers to use agency workers to break strikes. The draft legislation also proposes quadrupling penalties for unions for carrying out unlawful strikes – from £250,000 to £1m for the largest unions.
