CIRC 096: CAMPAIGN FOR THE RIGHT TO STRIKE

The POA NEC have never given up over the last 30 years in getting Section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 repealed. We have had many setbacks legally and politically, but that just makes us more determined with our campaign. Before the General Election I met the leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer and put our case to him and whilst he listened, he did not commit to repealing it or indeed say that an incoming Labour Government would keep the restrictive legislation in place and neither did many other senior Labour politicians. The National Chair, in his recent Circular update informed the membership that the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State Shabana Mahmood MP met with us both and stated that they would not restore our right to have basic rights at work ie the right to strike. Whilst we were not surprised at this, we were saddened that an incoming Labour Government merely stated that they would defend their stance in the European Court of Human Rights. I did remind the Secretary of State that they were defending a piece of legislation which was brought in by a Tory Government in 1994. I believe there were and are other options available to this Government and we will continue to campaign for justice at work for our members.

POA Honorary Life Member John McDonnell MP has tabled 3 amendments to the Employment Rights Bill, seeking to restore the right of Prison Officers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to take industrial action. His amendments are called NC1, NC2 and NC3 (NC stands for new clause- ie an extra bit to add to the original bill) and all of them make changes to section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which is the legislation banning Prison Officers from taking industrial action. 

NC1 is headed “Prison officers: inducements to withhold services or to indiscipline”, NC2 is “Prison officers: inducements to withhold services” and NC3 Is “inducement of Prison officers: exempted persons”-and all three alter the 1994 act in different ways. The reason he has tabled three different amendments is to make sure that at least one of them is ruled “in scope” of the Bill and so allowed by the speaker to be debated. All three have the same effect of restoring basic trade union rights to Prison officers, and can be viewed here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3737/stages/19061/amendments?searchTerm=&Decision=All&Memberld=178

Currently the Bill is going through its committee stage, having had it’s” Second Reading” debate on 21^st October (at which MPs including John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Brian Leishman and Mary Kelly Foy spoke about repealing Section 127). Committee stage is when amendments are debated by a committee of MPs. It's not certain when this committee will discuss NC1, NC2 or NC3 but this should be before the end of the year. No votes on the amendments will happen at this stage.

After Committee Stage is over, the Bill moves to its report stage, which is when MPs not on the committee can also debate amendments. This is likely to be early in the new year, and MPs will get to vote on any amendments selected by the speaker. It's not known whether the speaker will select any of John McDonnell’s amendments, but the more MPs who support them, the more likely this is to happen. Therefore, all POA members are urged to contact their local MP and ask them to support these amendments officially by adding their name as a Co-sponsor.

After the next stage, called “Third Reading”, the Bill moves to the House of Lords and there will be more opportunities there to debate these amendments, which former Unite Leader Lord Tony Woodley has agreed to table. The Lords have greater scope to debate and vote on any amendments they like, but the convention is not to call a vote you know you are going to lose. However, these debates will be useful for raising the issue, building support and explaining why it's so unjust and damaging to ban Prison Officers from taking industrial action. The greater the pressure that Parliament can put on the Government over this the more motivation there will be for Ministers to act. The POA NEC need your assistance to apply pressure and encourage your MPs to support us in removing what can only be described as a pernicious piece of legislation that is against basic fundamental human rights. More information about our campaign to repeal this legislation will be forthcoming early in the new year. I hope this Circular has gone some way to explain the procedures in the Parliamentary process.

 

Yours sincerely

STEVE GILLAN
General Secretary