A final attempt by House of Commons opposition MPs aimed at stopping employers from recruiting agency workers as strike breakers has failed.

At the third reading of the Trade Union Bill in Parliament yesterday, opposition MPs tabled a clause preventing the use of agency workers as strike breakers but minister of state for the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills Nicholas Boles resisted the amendment. A similar amendment brought at Committee Stage at the end of last month also failed.

According to parliament records, Boles said he did not want to pre-empt the results of government’s summer consultation on secondary legislation that would enable the use of agency worker strike breakers, adding government will publish a response in due course. The consultation closed in September.

The amendment is the latest attempt by opposition MPs to block secondary legislation to prevent an agency worker from performing the duties of an employee taking part in industrial action. This practice is currently prevented by Regulation 7 of the Conduct Regulations of the Employment Agencies Business Regulations 2003 (Conduct Regulations), which stands to be repealed using the secondary legislation. 

The secondary legislation was first referred to in the Conservative Party’s general election manifesto in the spring.

The Trade Union Bill now passes to the House of Lords for consideration, where the Conservatives do not command a majority.

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