Unions have voiced concerns that employers that use agency workers to fill safety-critical roles during strikes could, potentially, be putting employee safety at risk if they haven’t been fully trained.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) introduced new regulations on 21 July to enable businesses that have been most impacted by industrial action to use ‘temporary’ and ‘skilled’ agency workers to fill vital roles when employees that are union members go on strike.
However, on 21 September, a group of 11 trade unions announced they were taking legal proceedings to protect their right to go on strike after arguing the government’s new measures were ‘unlawful’.
Although the government’s new measures are designed to give employers greater flexibility, BEIS has advised businesses that they will ‘still be required to abide by broader health and safety rules that keep employees and the public safe’.
The department adds that individual businesses will be responsible for hiring ‘temporary workers with the correct and suitable skillset and/or qualifications to meet the obligations of the role’. Its new regulations apply in England, Scotland and Wales.
Bringing in agency staff that haven’t been fully trained to deliver specific roles could put themselves, co-workers and members of the public at risk, whether that is on the railways, in factories or in schools
However, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which has coordinated a legal challenge on behalf of the 11 unions, has warned about the potential safety implications of recruiting agency workers.
‘Bringing in agency staff that haven’t been fully trained to deliver specific roles could put themselves, co-workers and members of the public at risk, whether that is on the railways, in factories or in schools,’ TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady told IOSH magazine.
She added that unions and agency employers had all warned ministers against their plans, which she said had ‘put agency workers in an appalling position, could worsen disputes and poison long-term industrial relations’.
‘The overriding factor in this, both the business and societal bottom-line if you like, is that health and safety standards remain a requirement and are maintained to protect workers, the public and others by keeping them safe from harm. There must be no question of hiring agency staff being allowed to threaten anyone’s health and safety,’ said Ruth Wilkinson, IOSH's head of health and safety.
It’s imperative the requirements for any role do not slip and that adequate induction, information, instruction and supervision is provided to ensure a level of competency
‘While the government assures us health and safety rules and standards will be upheld, its support for employers to continue to deliver services and keep businesses running must not allow agency staff to take on safety-critical roles if they don’t have the vital training, skills and experience needed.
'It’s imperative the requirements for any role do not slip and that adequate induction, information, instruction and supervision is provided to ensure a level of competency that will protect the worker themselves and those who could be impacted by their work. As the government itself has stressed, employees and the public must be kept safe at all times.’
Responses to the government’s proposals have been predominantly negative. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which represents companies that supply agency workers, has said that they are ‘unworkable’.
The Lords Committee tasked with scrutinising the legislation has also been highly critical. It has said ‘the lack of robust evidence and the unexpected limited net benefit raise questions as to the practical effectiveness and benefit of the new laws'.
Thompsons Solicitors LLP is taking legal action on behalf of the 11 unions to protect the right to strike. The unions represented are the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASELF); the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU); FDA (formerly The Association of First Division Civil Servants); the GMB, the National Education Union (NEU), the National Union of Journalists (NUJ); the Professional Trades Union for Correctional & Secure Psychiatric Workers (POA); the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS); the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT); Unite; and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw).
Two TUC-affiliated unions – Unison and the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) – have launched separate legal cases individually against BEIS’ new regulations.
