Humza Yousaf, the First Minister of Scotland, has pledged that the Scottish government will not issue “work notices” compelling workers to break strikes, should the Tories' Minimum Service Levels Bill become law.
Yousaf said: “Be in no doubt, the Scottish government will never issue or enforce a single work notice, we will continue to do everything we can to oppose this disgraceful legislation.”
So far, no Westminster government figure has suggested that the provisions of the bill would legally oblige the Scottish government, or any other employer, to issue work notices. So, even after the bill becomes law, there looks like being significant scope for political, or even industrial, pressure to demand that employers refuse to issue work notices.
Employers such as Labour councils and transport authorities overseen by Labour administrations, such as Transport for London, are obvious primary targets for such campaigning. But unions should prepare to mount such campaigns against all employers.
But they also need to prepare for direct defiance. If an employer does issue a work notice, the bill's language suggests unions will face injunctions if they fail to make “reasonable” efforts to instruct their members to work. It is unconscionable for unions to turn themselves into administrators of scabbing; the only alternative is to directly defy the law and go ahead with strikes even in the face of injunctions.
The bill returns to the House of Lords on 8 June. The Lords will decide whether to defy the Commons, by reinserting its amendments which the last round of Commons voting opposed, or, as per convention and protocol, accept the Commons' rejection of those amendments and nod the bill through.
The Free Our Unions campaign is holding an online open planning meeting at 7pm on the same evening to discuss possibilities for resistance. Speakers include Labour MP Nadia Whittome. More: http://freeourunions.org. §
