A spate of court rulings blocking strike action has encouraged employers not to bother entering serious talks with their workers when disputes arise, an official of Britain's biggest trade union said.
Unions also said they expect the coalition government, led by the Conservatives — who have a frosty relationship with unions after tightening labour laws in the 1980s — will come under pressure to introduce yet more restrictive legislation.
"The fundamental right to strike is hanging by a thread," Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Unite, which has over a million members, told delegates at the annual gathering of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Manchester.
"Any employer knows that they don't need to negotiate seriously – all they need is an expensive lawyer and a compliant judge to get lawful action declared illegal."
British Airways, embroiled in a long running dispute with the Unite union, has twice been given a court injunction against strikes by its cabin crew — once due to its failure to notify members that there had been 11 spoilt ballot papers among thousands cast.
A planned national walk out by rail signallers was among others blocked over ballot irregularities earlier this year.
Further strikes are expected in the public sector as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, elected in May, pushes ahead with plans to slash government spending.
TAKING TO THE STREETS
McCluskey called for thousands of people to demonstrate outside London's High Court next time an employer challenges a union strike ballot.
Voting unanimously to support Labour MP John McDonnell's parliamentary bill to stop employers using minor technical errors to block strikes, union members expressed anger that during its 13 years in government the Labour party — which has historical links with unions — did nothing to ease labour laws.
Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher introduced tough laws in the 1980s to curb the power of Britain's once-mighty unions.
Union membership has since halved and the days lost to strikes fallen sharply. Analysts say unions have the power to discomfort the coalition but will struggle to get it to change course.
Last week the Policy Exchange think tank, which is close to the Conservatives, called for ballot rules to be changed to make it harder to call industrial action.
The group suggested 40% of trade union members in a workforce should be required to back a strike for it to be valid, rather than the current rule that a simple majority of union members who bother to vote is sufficient.
It also called for the period of protection from unfair dismissal during a strike to be reduced, and for employers to be allowed to hire temporary staff to do the work of striking employees during a walk out.
Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, an umbrella organisation which represents more than 6 million workers, said he expected the coalition would come under increasingly such pressure to make legislation more restrictive.
"Whenever there is any industrial dispute of any sort, some go for the knee jerk call for even more tighter legal restrictions so I would suspect those voices will be raised," he said.
But despite union frustration with existing laws, he warned members against taking unofficial action instead, as such so called "wildcat" strikes, which do not have legal protection, expose unions to being sued by employers.
