On Thursday, the UK High Court overturned a 2022 law that allowed businesses to hire temporary agency workers to fill staffing gaps because of strike action. The law repealed trade union laws that restricted employment businesses from hiring temporary agency workers to fill positions. This law applied across all sectors – including education.

The High Court quashed the June 2022 law, and 13 unions, including Aslef, RMT and Unite, joined forces against the government to uphold the right to strike. This was coordinated by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The lawyer for the TUC stated that the Secretary of State at the time ignored legal obligations and was driven by political ideology when introducing agency work to cover striking work. Other heads of the trade unions have echoed this, stating that the law was counter-productive and ignored legal requirements. However, the government’s Department for Business and Trade noted that the June 2022 law complied with their legal obligations and will consider the judgement to balance the needs of trade unions and the wider economy.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng labelled the trade union action, which restricts the use of temporary workers, “burdensome” and the use of agency work as “good news” for society and the economy. Similarly, the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, stated that this law would disable the unions from holding the country to ransom through the threat of industrial action and tapping into the agency workers will cause “less disruption” in day-to-day life.