The United Nations workers’ rights agency refuted the claim of the UK government that it had supported it New anti-strike laws.
Prime Minister Rishi Sonak has repeatedly insisted that the ILO supports controversial plans to introduce “minimum service levels” in the public sector.
Gilbert Hongbo, director general of the International Labor Organization, stated that he was “very worried” about the possibility that British workers could be fired if they strike.
He said BBCHis organization was “in talks” with British trade associations about whether the government was violating international workers rights laws.
“The ILO supports minimum service levels,” Sunak told Parliament in January. “They are in France, Italy and Spain.”
Grant Shapps, the Business Secretary, claimed in the House of Commons, that the ILO believes minimum levels of service are a proportionate means of balancing strikes against the need to protect wider public.
The Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Bill passed its first hurdle in Parliament earlier this week.
The new law requires unions and employers to ensure basic service in the rail, fire, and health sectors during an industrial strike.
Strikes will be deemed illegal if trade Unions fail to comply. Employers can also sue unions or fire workers who do not comply.
The ILO isn’t the first international labor organisation to challenge claims that the British government’s crackdown on striking workers conforms to norms in many European countries.
The European Confederation of Public Service Unions said this openDemocracy: “It’s bells.”
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, stated: “Grant Shapps has been absurdly claiming that the Nurses Sacking Bill has received the international seal of approval. But the ILO, and the US Labor Secretary, are clearly asking for a different conclusion.
“The business minister was hiding behind a distorted and willful misunderstanding of ILO law in his vain attempts to justify this shoddy, unworkable and vindictive legislation.”
This row is occurring as unions in the public sector intensify the strike amid disagreements about pay and terms.
Hundreds of thousands Teachers, civil servants and train drivers will strike on February 1.
Trade Union Congress (TUC), will also host a national “Protection of the Right to Strike” event that will see protests from across the country on the same day.
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