SNP ministers would reject “shameful” planned anti-strike laws and overturn the current trade union act if Holyrood had power over employment laws, the party has said.
The Times revealed yesterday that employers will be able to sue unions and sack staff under government plans to curb the right to strike.
The laws would apply UK-wide and would enforce “minimum service levels” in six sectors, including the health service, rail, education, fire and border security.
It is not thought that any part of the proposals would need the Scottish parliament’s approval even though it sets up the prospect of health boards, councils and publicly owned ScotRail having the power to take legal action against workers who take industrial action.
In October, the Scottish government published its economic prospectus for independence which included a pledge to repeal “the UK Trade Union Act 2016 as part of developing an approach to industrial relations which suits both workers and employers”.
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Mhairi Black, the SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster, said: “These immoral proposals from the Tory government speak to the hard-right rhetoric that has Westminster in a choke-hold . . . Just months ago, the UK government applauded key workers. Now they are threatening them with the sack if they go on strike. It’s utterly shameful.”
She said that her party “condemns these plans in the strongest possible terms” and contrasted them “with the constructive role the SNP Scottish government has played in recent pay disputes north of the border”.
The Royal College of Nursing is planning its first ever strike action in Scotland and has voiced its anger at Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary, imposing a pay deal on NHS workers despite 82 per cent of the union’s members rejecting the average pay increase of 7.5 per cent.
Louise Gilmour, Scotland secretary for the GMB trade union, said the planned legislation is “diversionary and desperate politics by a government that by its own hand has run the economy into the ground and our public services into crisis”.
A spokesman for the Scottish government said: “The Scottish government strongly opposes any bill that undermines legitimate trade union activity and does not respect the Scottish Government’s Fair Work principles.”
