Striking Times: the shifting sands of industrial relations in the UK

So far, 2023 has seen a continuation of last year’s widespread strike action in what has been dubbed the UK’s second winter of discontent. The disruptive effect of widespread and coordinated strike action, particularly in public sector services, has received significant coverage in the mainstream media and resulted in government intervention.

Factors such as rising inflation and the ‘cost of living’ crisis, mean unionised workers are more willing to vote in favour of strike action to bring about change, and there is a heightened awareness of the benefits of unionisation amongst the public.  Trade union membership in the UK has been rising since 2016 and while this has historically been confined to the public sector and certain traditional industries, in particular manufacturing, it is increasingly prevalent in the private sector and other industries.

Please join our employment law and industrial relations experts for this 1-hour webinar session at 10:00 on Thursday 30 March, where we will discuss the changing landscape of industrial relations in the UK and share our predictions for the future. We’ll also look at practical considerations for employers seeing increased union activity or who receive a request for recognition.

This webinar is open to any clients interested in a refresher on these issues, however will be of particular interest to HR professionals, in-house lawyers and managers working in businesses that do not currently recognise a trade union and/or may not be used to working directly in a unionised environment. 

We hope you can join us for what promises to be an interesting and informative discussion. To register, please click the button below.

You may be interested in reading our three part Law-Now series, in which we consider what employers should be watching out for in an increasingly complex industrial relations landscape, how they can mitigate the risks for their businesses and what recent measures have been introduced by the government in response to the current industrial action.