Reject no-strike plan

The House of Lords should reject plans in the Crime and Courts Bill which would prevent over 3,000 civil servants working for the National Crime Agency from taking strike action in the future, the TUC has said.

The TUC fears that it is the beginning of an attack on the rights of those working in the public sector to take industrial action.

General secretary Frances O’Grady said it was opposed to all facets of the Bill, but “in particular the clauses that seek to ban civil servants in the National Crime Agency from taking industrial action”. The agency will be up and running later this year.

O’Grady said: “The right to strike is a fundamental human right. To remove it from a group of civil servants is draconian and unnecessary.

“Unions will always work very hard to reach a negotiated settlement during a dispute with their employer. However, as a last resort, and where their members vote for strike action in a ballot, they must be free to defend their position by withdrawing their labour.”

www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-22046-f0.cfm

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/crimeandcourts/documents.html