Responding to the Supreme Court ruling that UK trade union law breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), RCN Director of Legal and Member Relations, Joanne Galbraith-Marten, said:
“Today’s ruling is welcome news for workers as the Supreme Court recognised that our domestic legislation is not compatible with article 11 of the ECHR given the lack of protection for detriment short of dismissal in respect of those taking part in organising industrial action.
“However, unfortunately, in the coming weeks, the government is set to limit the right of nursing staff to strike in hospitals in a move that ignores warnings from Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights. Thousands of nurses have already written to their MPs and to ministers in protest and, on the back of this, many more should follow.”
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Notes to Editors
The Supreme Court has today ruled in favour of Fiona Mercer, a UNISON member and care worker, who was suspended in 2019 after partaking in strike action. In a significant legal development, the nation’s highest court has ruled that our domestic legislation is incompatible with article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The cross-party Joint Committee on Human Rights’ report on minimum service levels legislation agreed with the RCN’s assertion that imposing additional restrictions on the freedom of nursing staff to strike risks infringing their article 14 rights, under the ECHR, stating: “we agree that there is potential for minimum service requirements to impact more severely on certain protected groups, most obviously women in respect of nursing.”
