What Are Strikes and Lockouts in England and Wales?

Industrial action in the workplace is an action that many employers dread. If your workers or employees decide to take part in industrial action, such as strikes or lockouts, as a result of a dispute they have with you, you will lose valuable work time. Your workers are not carrying out their everyday work, which will impact your business. It will also impact your relations with them. Whilst your workers and employees have the right to take industrial action, the law remains very complicated. It is important that you get it right because not doing so could mean that you have unfairly dismissed your staff, resulting in an employment tribunal. It is advisable to get legal advice should you face industrial action such as a strike or lockout at your workplace.

This article will explain what you should understand about the rules about industrial action, such as strikes or lockouts, for both you and your workers should a dispute arise. It also explains what strikes and lockouts are.

What is a Strike? 

A strike is a form of industrial action where your workers or employees refuse to carry out their work. 

Industrial action occurs when your workers or employees, who are members of a trade union, dispute with you. Since you can not resolve the dispute through negotiation, your workers decide to take action in the form of a legal strike.

Sometimes a picket line accompanies a strike. This is where striking workers form a line outside your workplace to encourage others to strike too. They may also encourage them to do only part of their everyday work.

Secondary action is where your workers have decided to go on strike because they sympathise with workers from a different organisation or business who have gone on strike. Your workers do not legally have the right to do this.

What is a Lockout?

On the contrary, lockouts are where your workers or employees have gone on strike and whilst the issue is ongoing, you refuse to let them return to work.

Is It Legal for My Workers to Strike?

Before a strike occurs, your worker’s trade union must have carried out a ballot resulting in a collective agreement. A ballot is a properly organised postal vote. It involves the members of the trade union who the dispute affects. If these members vote, and the majority are in favour of it, they can hold a strike.

Trade unions must take steps for the strike to be legal. For example, they must:

• let you as the employer, and its members who could have voted, know the result of the ballot; and
• tell you and their trade union members affected by the dispute the type of action that they will take and when.

The person who informs you of the above must be a trade union official or committee member as they are both legally entitled to do so.

What Rights Do Workers Have When Striking?

Your workers have legal rights when striking or taking other forms of industrial action. This applies to both workers who are trade union members and those who are not. Your workers have the right to participate in a strike, meaning that you have no legal grounds to require them to work instead. 

Furthermore, your workers are protected from dismissal for taking industrial action for up to 12 weeks after taking part in it. This is providing that:

• a properly organised ballot was held and allowed the industrial action;
• the dispute concerns an issue with you as their employer; and
• you received a notice about the intended industrial action with details a minimum of seven days before the action.

However, where you have carried out a lockout as part of the strike, you will need to add a day per day of lockout to these 12-week rules, meaning that the time with which you cannot dismiss your employee for striking extends.

What Rights Do You Have When Employees Strike?

When your workers take industrial action such as striking, they have likely broken part of their employment contract with you. This means that you can:

• refuse to pay them for the time when they did not work due to the industrial action;
• sue your workers for breaking the contract; and
• take the industrial action into account when working out your worker’s pension and other entitlements such as statutory redundancy pay.

Although you cannot dismiss your workers for taking part in industrial action up to 12 weeks after it took place, you can once the 12 week period is up if you have tried to resolve the dispute. 

There are some other instances where you as an employer can dismiss your workers for taking part in industrial action such as a strike without it being considered unfair dismissal. This is where they take industrial action when:

• the trade union has not called them to;
• it is secondary action;
• it is a ‘closed shop’, which means it takes place only to support employing union members, and 
• the industrial action breaks the law regarding industrial action.

Key Takeaways

As an employer, you will undoubtedly hope that you will never face industrial action by your workers. However, strikes and lockouts can happen, and if it does, you should be knowledgeable about the rules surrounding this. You should be able to tell whether industrial action such as a strike is legal and what rights you as an employer and your workers have. 

If you need help with understanding strikes and lockouts in England and Wales, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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