Category: Employment Law, Taxation and Legislation for Contractors

The rules on workers' right to strike need to be reviewed, it has been suggested.

Anti-union laws introduced from the 1980s onwards undermine the privilege of freelance contractors and other workers to take industrial action, according to a spokesperson for the Trades Union Congress.

"As recent judgments have shown, complicated laws do not benefit employers nor employees and we want the laws reviewed so that the law on strikes is made much clearer," he said.

General secretary of the Unite union Tony Woodley has also spoken out on the right to strike, saying at the body's conference at the end of May that the privilege to do so is "hanging by a thread".

He called for a level playing field at work to be created and anti-union laws to be scrapped.

BA cabin crew have been involved in one of the highest profile strike cases in recent times, eventually winning the right to strike following several court hearings and appeals.

Posted by Sarah Putt