Thank you for contacting me about the right to strike following the industrial action we have been seeing across the country and in a wide variety of different sectors and industries. I absolutely share your anger that this Tory Government is seeking actively to undermine these strikes and the fundamental right of people to strike.

Specifically I have heard from many constituents like yourself, who are rightly concerned about the frankly frightening implications of the Government’s planned changes to Minimum Service Levels. I can assure you that I will be joining my Labour colleagues in standing firmly against this dangerous bill. 

It was not too long ago that the government and Ministers stood on their doorsteps to clap for our doctors, nurses and all key workers for their hard work and the sacrifices they were making during the pandemic. But how things have changed, now instead of clapping for nurses, this Tory government are looking for ways to sack them.

The Bill proposed by the government is both unjustifiable and unworkable. The Transport Secretary has even admitted that it won’t work, and countries around the world that have attempted to adopt these laws have seen even greater industrial action as a result.

The Prime Minister is playing politics yet again and trying to distract from the economic mess and crisis in public services his party has created.

In power, Labour would end the Tories’ strikes chaos with a new partnership of cooperation between trade unions, employers and Government, meaning these issues are resolved before strikes need to happen in the first place.

These strikes have been taking place because pay isn’t keeping pace with inflation and working people are bearing the brunt of a cost of living crisis that has in part been created in Downing Street and exacerbated by repeated Tory policies over the last twelve years.

Over the last decade we have seen the greatest fall in wages since the Napoleonic era and this year saw the biggest collapse in living standards since records began in the 1950s.

Workers, especially in the public sector, have not seen a pay increase in years and this is biting especially hard now when inflation is almost in double figures.

Rather than taking the action that is needed to control inflation by reducing our reliance on foreign oil and gas and investing in a mix of sustainable energies, the Tory government are telling people that they must exercise discipline on pay in order to control inflation.

This is a complete fallacy – it is not low paid workers who have driven up pay, but a failure to secure our energy supply that has left us particularly vulnerable to the shocks on the international market from Covid and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

I and the Labour Party stand full square behind workers who are fighting for fair pay and conditions – working people should not be paying the price. We will use our platform as elected MPs to highlight the assault on working people and to stand by them.

Secondly, nobody takes strike action lightly and the right to do so is a fundamental one in our society. So I am very concerned that the Government is seeking to undermine this right. As you will know, it has already introduced regulations which lift the ban on employers bringing in agency staff during strikes, as well as increasing the maximum level of damages that courts can award against trade unions over industrial action. I voted against these regulations. Unfortunately, they nevertheless passed with the support of Tory MPs. The TUC were absolutely right to report the Government to the UN’s International Labour Organisation for undermining this fundamental right.

As Shadow Secretary of State for Transport I have been specifically focused on the strikes occurring on our rail network and the threat to workers’ rights through the imposition of agency workers and minimum service obligations. Throughout this process I had been working to hold each successive Secretary of State for Transport to account over their total inaction. Rather than doing their job, each has attempted to play politics and pit workers against the British public. This is utterly unacceptable and highlights the Government’s desire to further inflame divisions rather than work to resolve this dispute.

I’ve been in constant contact with the RMT and the Labour Party’s sister unions, the TSSA and ASLEF to ensure we are working together in the interests of rail workers and passengers. You may well have seen me on the television or in Parliament on several occasions over the last few months, supporting the workers’ right to fight for fair pay and to protect jobs. You can see my previous debate with Grant Shapps here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9YgUdDOY5g&t=1s.

You may also be interested in our commitment to repeal anti-trade union laws and to implement far-reaching reforms on collective bargaining and trade union rights, which were announced last year by Angela Rayner. You can read more here – https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Employment-Rights-Green-Paper.pdf

Thank you again for writing to me about this very important matter and I can assure you that I will continue to support workers across the country and fight for fair pay and support during this cost of living crisis.