The government is planning a 50 per cent participation threshold for all trade union ballots for industrial action. There will also be a new threshold of at least 40 per cent of those entitled to vote required for strikes affecting essential public services. This would mean in effect non-voters are assumed as voting against any strike action, a principle which is not used in any other area of British public life.
The health sector has very low levels of industrial action, with only nine working days lost per 1,000 employees in 2014, compared to figures in the hundreds in other sectors.
The BDA has argued that the current proposals represent the most restrictive trade union laws in the Western world, are potentially outside the International Labour Organisations conventions, and may be open to legal challenge.
Mick Armstrong, Chair of the British Dental Association said:
“Dentists have never been on strike, but as a profession we have little choice but to reject these proposals out of hand.
“In setting out what would be the most restrictive labour laws in the Western world, the government has chosen to forego the usual niceties such as evidence. In the key areas of fairness and proportionality, areas which should show what these proposals might actually mean for patients and practitioners, we are left in the dark.
“Health professionals take their responsibilities incredibly seriously. The threat of industrial action does not loom large over our hospitals or our high street practices. So if the government wants to sweep away a cornerstone for workers seeking a better deal, they have a responsibility to find a half-convincing argument first.
“The only clear beneficiaries from such poorly thought out, punitive and ultimately unnecessary legislation will be the lawyers. The government must think again, and spare taxpayers from the inevitable legal bill.”