Labour disputes – strikes – are never pleasant to manage for anyone involved. The employer loses production and business while the employees lose pay.
The Office for National Statistics maintains data on labour disputes and days lost since 1891. The data can be interesting to read, especially if we consider the peaks that are clearly visible in January 1931 (3.64 million days lost per month to strike action), March 1957 (3.96 million), February 1972 (6.51 million) and September 1979 (11.71 million). There are other notable events including, surprisingly, strikes held in wartime – especially in March 1944 (1.60 million).
Predictably, there were no industrial disputes between February 2020 and December 2021. Post-pandemic negative sentiment in the workplace has seen unrest, but nowhere near the levels seen at other times. Indeed, only since August 2022 have days lost risen into the hundreds of thousands, with a peak in December 2022 of 829,000. Since then, the numbers are down to around 42,000 now (according to July 2024 data).
Pay and conditions
But strikes are back in the news again, and for the first time – as The Guardian reported in mid-August 2024 – in the veterinary profession. As the report outlined, employees at a four-branch chain of practices extended their strike that began in July, “accusing their private-equity-backed owner of underpaying workers and overcharging pet owners as part of the first industrial action to hit the veterinary sector in the UK”.
Unionised vets, nurses and support staff at Valley Vets in South Wales, which is owned by VetPartners, want more pay.
‘The animal care assistants and reception staff at Valley Vets are really poorly paid. They are on either minimum wage or just above it, which in the current climate is untenable’
As the chair of the British Veterinary Union, Suzanna Hudson-Cooke, commented, “the animal care assistants and reception staff at Valley Vets are really poorly paid. They are on either minimum wage or just above it, which in the current climate is untenable.”
The union says of VetPartners that it is “a very large company, with an estimated value of about £3 billion. They could afford to pay the real living wage of £12 an hour.”
A month later the South Wales Argus noted that “the first-ever strike at a private veterinary practice in the UK has continued to escalate over the past week, as a petition in support of the workers has reached almost 50,000 signatures”.
Trades Union Congress (TUC) senior policy officer for employment rights, Tim Sharp, has seen workers take action to defend their pay and conditions: “While we have seen the highest levels of industrial action since the pensions strikes in public services a decade ago, there have been far fewer strikes than in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.”
Of course, none of this diminishes the impact of strikes on an individual or business, if they’re on the wrong side of a dispute.
Marina Glasgow, Acas chief conciliator, understands the potential for disharmony but explains that the whole point of conciliation is to dilute the effect of disputes and discuss them away. It’s for this reason that Acas has seen many disputes that did not result in strike action. That doesn’t make them any less difficult for the parties involved to resolve.
The main causes of strike action
It’s fair to ask about the main causes of strike action. Is it all about cost-of-living pay demands, or are there other issues such as grievances or support for an employee “unfairly” dismissed?
From the TUC’s standpoint, Tim cites the fact that the main national strikes have been in public services, but “there have also been many smaller disputes in private sector workplaces. Pay is the biggest issue with average pay worth less today than 15 years ago.”
Marina thinks the same but makes clear that many pay-related strikes are not exclusively concerned about recent rises in prices, despite the cost-of-living crisis being a widely reported issue. Indeed, she explains that a number of strikes are “concerned with low pay increases or even frozen pay, and many unions have highlighted as part of their dispute the cumulative effect of many years of low pay and lack of investment”.
She continues: “Some pay disputes are not just about being paid enough to live on. They can be about being paid fairly for the responsibilities and duties of the role.” However, other situations have involved the need or desire for businesses to make changes to ways of working to improve competitiveness and profitability, or simply to reduce costs during tough economic times.
That said, Marina has seen “outside factors such as rapid inflation and a fall in real terms wages lead to unions balloting strike action to leverage wage increases”.
For many who ordinarily aren’t militant, the decision to vote for strike action is not an easy one to make; few can afford to lose a day’s pay, so strike action is a very visible sign that they want the employer to listen
Some might say there have been more attempts to resolve situations, while others suggest that employees are being hardnosed about calling and balloting for strikes. But from a logical standpoint, whenever a strike is called it is a clear indicator that workers feel strongly about the given issue. For many who ordinarily aren’t militant, the decision to vote for strike action is not an easy one to make; few can afford to lose a day’s pay, so strike action is a very visible sign that they want the employer to listen to what they are saying.
While workers lose pay when they strike, Tim thinks that such “action is sometimes needed to bring an employer to the negotiating table”.
Talking is clearly the best way of resolving disputes and so the better an employer’s channels and relationships are with their workforce and representatives, the better the chance of anticipating and avoiding strikes. “A strike,” says Marina, “is an option of last resort, so should rarely come as a surprise. Thus, regular forums and joint working groups provide an opportunity to work towards compromise… provided they are engaged with meaningfully.”
Advice to employers
Employers need to tread carefully where a dispute deteriorates to the point of strike action since the law prescribes the process and grants employees certain rights if the rules are followed.
Workers taking part in official industrial action, including strikes, are protected by law. This means that employers should not cause detriment to any strikers by, for example, reducing their hours, bullying or harassing them, or turning down requests for training because they’ve gone on strike or if they have taken action short of a strike, such as working to rule. Striking employees are also protected from dismissal by law. If an employee is dismissed for going on strike for 12 weeks or less it is automatically an unfair dismissal.
If an official strike is called, employers can ask their employees if they intend to take part. However, workers do not need to tell their employers if they plan to participate; they should, though, tell their employer they’ve been on strike when they return to work.
‘Non-striking employees have the right to refuse additional work or extended hours beyond their contractual obligations and employers who try to force their employees to take on additional duties could face resignations and constructive dismissal claims’
Mark Stevens, a legal director at VWV, recommends that employers are careful when asking colleagues of striking employees – who might not be participating in action themselves – to cover industrial action. He details that “non-striking employees have the right to refuse additional work or extended hours beyond their contractual obligations and employers who try to force their employees to take on additional duties could face resignations and constructive dismissal claims”. In his opinion, asking non-striking employees to cover their colleagues in these circumstances is likely to negatively influence workplace relationships.
Mark generally considers the legal issues in relation to strikes to be “complex and subject to frequent change”. A good example of this is the recent judgment on agency workers. He explains that “in July 2022, the government revoked regulation 7 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, which meant that employment agencies were legally permitted to provide agency staff to carry out the duties of striking employees. However, in July 2023 the High Court ruled in favour of 13 trade unions challenging the revocation of regulation 7.” This decision, he says, means that the ban on employment agencies providing temporary workers to cover the work of employees on strike remains in place.
Practical advice to an employer facing industrial action is very fact-specific, but the key points that employers should consider are:
- What is the trade dispute about and what are the issues leading to the threatened industrial action? The employer should seek to understand the different viewpoints and perspectives in order to identify the issues and areas of consensus
- Has the union met its relevant legal obligations? Trade unions are subject to strict obligations in terms of what information they include in notices to employers, ballots and any notice of strike action. These documents should be carefully reviewed in order to check compliance
- What communications might be helpful to send to employees? Any sent should be carefully and sensitively drafted
- What wider communications and continuity planning might be necessary – what steps can be taken to keep the business operating or meeting its objectives? This might include thinking about communications with clients or customers, or press releases.
It is clear that employers and employees need to find ways of nurturing a culture of talking that reaches agreements. For Tim, this is best done through negotiating committees (with unions).
Ultimately, Mark knows that strikes can be disruptive. However, he reckons that “by approaching issues with fairness, transparency and a commitment to reaching a solution, employers can navigate a strike while minimising the long-term impact on the business and preserving positive relationships with employees”.
Final thoughts
Good lines of communication between all parties won’t eliminate strikes, but they will reduce the odds of them occurring
Strikes are a part of the fabric of industrial life. However, that doesn’t mean that they are inevitable. Good lines of communication between all parties won’t eliminate strikes, but they will reduce the odds of them occurring.
