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Strikes and the Individual Worker—Reforming the Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2009
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The government's recent Green Paper “Trade Unions and Their Members” contains several radical proposals for the reform of labour law, among them the suggestion that no union member should be subject to penalties by his trade union for disobedience to the union's call to take strike action. This proposal is based partly on a philosophy of committed individualism—everyone has a right to decide to work whatever a trade union has to say about the taking of industrial action—and partly on the government's concern over the well-publicised sanctions which unions such as the N. U. M. and the N. U. J. have recently imposed on members who have rejected official calls to participate in industrial action. The suggestion is made at a time when the actual impact of strikes (measured in terms of working days lost) is at its lowest point for twenty years and at a stage when, as one commentator has observed, “[t]he trend in this area of law, as developed in the courts and by Parliament, is towards strengthening the position of the union member who refuses to participate in industrial action”. Given its conviction that the taking of industrial action should be a matter left to individual choice (para. 2.22), it is hardly surprising that the government appears to view sympathetically the possibility of extending to members disciplined by their union (by expulsion or some lesser sanction) the right of complaint to an industrial tribunal.
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References
1 Cm. 95. H. M. S. O., 1987.
2 According to a contrary view, “a union member who declared he had a right as an individual to decide whether or not to abide by an official strike call to all members would be seen by most members as claiming something he had no right to—no right, that is, in terms of his position as a member of the union”. (Macfarlane, L. J., The Right to Strike (Penguin, 1981), p. 19Google Scholar.)
3 The number of working days lost through strikes, as measured by the average over 12 months ending November 1986, is the lowest since the 12 months ending August 1967: Department of Employment Gazette, February 1987, Labour Market Data.
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7 Under the criminal law there are other sanctions to consider, some of which are of general application (e. g. Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875, s.5) and some of which apply only to specific industries. Morris, G. S., “The Regulation of Industrial Action in Essential Services” [1983] 12 I.L.J. 69Google Scholar.
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12 Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations 1965–1968, Cmnd. 3623 (1968), para. 936ff. The rationale for this approach goes back to Kahn-Freund's, writing in The System of Industrial Relations in Great Britain (Flanders, and Clegg, (eds.), Blackwells, 1952Google Scholar. ch. 2).
13 [1964] A.C. 1129 at 1204.
14 Burdett-Coutts v. Hertfordshire County Council [1984] I.R.L.R. 91. Where strike notice takes the form of a formal resignation from employment, and the notice given is no less than is required under the contract, the position may conceivably be different. Foster, K., “Strikes and Employment Contracts” [1971] 34 M.L.R. 275CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Foster, K., “Strike Notice: Section 147” (1973) 2 I.L.J. 28Google Scholar; O'Higgins, P., “Strike Notices: Another Approach” (1973) 2 I.L.J. 152Google Scholar.
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17 Cruikshank v. Hobbs [1977] I.C.R. 725.
18 E.P.C.A., S. 151(5), (6)(b); Schedule 13, para. 15.
19 Social Security Act 1975, s.19(1) (as amended by Social Security Act 1986, s. 44); Supplementary Benefits Act 1976, s.8 (as amended by Social Security Act 1980). Partington, M., “Unemployment, Industrial Conflict and Social Security” [1980] I.L.J. 243Google Scholar; Bowers, J. and Duggan, M., “Unemployment Benefit and Strikes—the New Law” (1987) Law Society's Gazette 884Google Scholar. The arguments for and against withholding supplementary benefit from strikers are set out in Ogus, A. I. and Barendt, E. M., The Law of Social Security (2nd ed., Butterworths, 1982) pp. 500–503Google Scholar.
20 E.P.C.A., s. 13(3).
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42 [1968] 2 Q.B. 710.
43 Paras. 936–952.
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45 Considerable discussion concerning the Labour Party's plans in this area has recently taken place. Sec. e. g., McCarthy, William, Freedom at Work: Towards the Reform of Tory Employment Laws (Fabian Society No. 508. 1985):Google Scholarindustrial Relations Legislation: Draft T.U.C./Labour Party Statement (June. 1986); K. D. Ewing “The Right to Strike” (n. 5. ), pp. 149 ff.
46 Op. cit., p. 11.
47 E. g. in the U.S.A., where “slowdowns” are classed as illegitimate because they amount to an attempt to require the employer to accept the employees on their own terms of employment. Gould, W.A Primer on American Labor Law (2nd ed., M.I.T., 1986). p. 99:Google ScholarElk Lumber Co. 91 N.L.R.B. 333(1950). In France, “Ic droit dc grève permet au salarié de suspendre sans le rempre son contrat de travail, mais nc I'autorisc pas. sous couvert de ce droit à exécuter son travail dans des conditions autrcs quc celle prévues par son contrat” (Soc. 23 mars 1953. cited in Camerlynck. Lyon-Caen, and Pélissier, . Droit du Travail (12th ed., Dalloz. 1984). p. 938)Google Scholar.
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