UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3m members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

The union issued proceedings with the High Court last week [13 September], triggering the start of a process seeking a judicial review of the government’s decision, UNISON said in a statement. UNISON is arguing that ministers’ changes are unlawful and should be axed.

Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has 21 days to respond from the date the case was lodged last Tuesday.

UNISON is arguing the government’s change to the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 is “unfair and based on unreliable evidence”. These regulations previously protected employees’ right to strike and ensured agency workers could not replace them.

The union said it is critical of ministers for using what it says are out-of-date and discredited findings from a 2015 consultation. The government did this to justify the change, which came into law this July.

UNISON’s legal team aims to show that the government has ignored Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This protects the right to freedom of association and international labour standards on the right to strike, says the union.

Separately, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is co-ordinating similar legal action involving 11 other unions to get the regulations scrapped. The unions involved in the TUC’s action are ASLEF, BFAWU, FDA, GMB, NEU, NUJ, POA, PCS, RMT, Unite and Usdaw.

If UNISON and the TUC secure the court's permission to proceed, it is likely all the arguments will be heard together.

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The government appears hell-bent on stripping ordinary working people of their historic rights and seems prepared to do anything to achieve that.

“Employees striking for better wages during a cost-of-living crisis is not the problem. Ministers should be rolling up their sleeves and helping solve disputes, not risking everyone’s safety by allowing the use of inexperienced agency workers.

“Changing the law in such a hostile and unpleasant way makes it much harder for workers to stand up to dodgy employers. It also risks limiting the impact of any legal strike.”
 
• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.