Tories acting like “gangsters” with plan to lift agency worker ban, McDonald says

Labour’s Andy McDonald has accused Conservative ministers of behaving like “gangsters” as the government presses ahead with its legislation that would lift the ban on agency workers being used to break strikes.

MPs will consider two statutory instruments this evening. One would see the Commons approve the Tory plan to repeal the ban on the use of agency workers, the other would increase financial penalties for trade unions where strike action is found to be unlawful, from the current upper limit of £250,000 to £1m.

Labour’s former Shadow Employment Rights Secretary accused the government of “disempowering workers and pitting them against one another” and said raising the financial penalties for trade unions is “designed to bankrupt” such organisations.

The government proposals follow strike action last month by members of the rail, maritime and transport workers’ union RMT. More than 40,000 RMT members from Network Rail and 13 train operators are thought to have taken part in the strikes, which took place on June 21st, 23rd and 25th.

McDonald told LabourList: “Having wrung their collective hands at the abominable behaviour of P&O in sacking 800 workers over Zoom and replacing them with agency workers, it seems that – after all that – the Tories are actually in favour of such anti-worker tactics.”

He added: “Without any consultation with the trade unions – which they are supposed to do by law, but hey, when did the law or international treaties ever stop Tories behaving like the gangsters they truly are? – they are introducing legislation to bring in agency workers to thwart unionised workers turning to industrial action.”

McDonald stressed that strikes are only used by workers as a “last resort” to protect themselves and to address the “cataclysmic collapse in wages” that has occurred during the Conservatives’ 12 years in government.

“Disempowering workers and pitting them against one another, while also further entrenching austerity, are [the government’s] weapons of choice. And it’s the working class who bear the brunt every time,” he declared.

“Global financial crash – the working class cop for it. Brexit – workers pay for it. Covid – yes, you’ve guessed it. All the while, the Tories and their friends – the spivs, the profiteers, the fraudsters – rake it in through dodgy deals and corrupt practices.”

Commenting on the Conservative leadership race, McDonald said: “Let’s not kid ourselves: these people are all in favour of creating the conditions for their tribe to thrive and amass individual eye-watering levels of wealth.

He argued that the “inevitable result” of candidates promising to cut corporation tax and emphasising the importance of a smaller state will be “ever-lower living standards, reduced public services [and] increased poverty”, resulting in “more of our fellow citizens going hungry and unable to heat their homes this coming winter”.

The Labour MP told LabourList: “What is needed in this country is a total reconfiguration of the economic order, with control truly being taken back in our communities and in the workplace.

“Only then will we see the corrective economic and regional rebalancing, with improved living standards for the many, which our country so desperately needs.”

Writing for LabourList, Justin Madders described the proposal to replacing striking workers with agency staff as “deliberately inflammatory” and a “totally reckless threat to public safety”. The shadow employment rights and protections minister said Labour would oppose the legislation “on all counts”.

It was revealed in March that P&O Ferries had decided to sack 800 staff members with immediate effect over Zoom, a move the ferry operator said was necessary to “secure the future viability” of the business.

In a letter to P&O chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite following the announcement, Grant Shapps said the company would have “little choice” but to reverse its decision under measures the government planned to announce.

The Transport Secretary added that the government would “ensure that seafarers are protected against these types of actions”. He called for the severance deadline to be dropped and argued that the chief executive’s position had become “untenable” as a result of the company’s decision.

Representatives of P&O and parent company DP World were grilled by the House of Commons transport and business committees following the announcement of the mass redundancies.

Business committee member McDonald asked Hebblethwaite: “Did P&O have a duty to consult the unions in good time over the redundancies?”

Hebblethwaite replied: “There is absolutely no doubt that we were required to consult with the unions. We chose not to do that.” McDonald interrupted to ask: “You chose to break the law?”

The CEO told MPs: “It was our assessment that the change was of such a magnitude that no union could possible accept our proposal”. McDonald said he had “never heard such farcical answers to a series of questions”.