In this blog series, Astra Emir, practising barrister and author of Selwyn’s Law of Employment, explains what UK employment law says about some of the important issues faced by employers and employees.

Every day there are reports of further strikes. Chaos on the railways, the London Underground brought to a standstill, airlines, teachers, the NHS: the list goes on. On one hand, people are fighting for their rights, some would say justifiably. On the other, employers are trying to keep things running. While strikes cause huge disruption for the public, they are also one of the few levers available to employees to bargain for their position.

This blog post looks at what the main rights and requirements are, both for employers and employees, once a strike has been called.

The summer of discontent?

The sheer number of strikes being planned have led to concerns that we may go back to the days of the “winter of discontent” in the 1970s. It is important however to note that the legal landscape is now very different. Since then, not only has overall membership of the unions declined drastically, but there have also been a number of changes brought in by various Conservative governments, the latest being the Trade Union Act 2016. This tightened the balloting requirements so that there now has to be at least a 50% turnout of the union membership for a vote on whether industrial action should take place and, for key public services, at least 40% of those eligible need to vote in...

Read Full Story: https://blog.oup.com/2022/08/what-does-uk-law-say-about-strikes/