The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has called on the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to lead a campaign of “mass non-cooperation and non-compliance” with the Minimum Service Levels bill, opposing the anti-strike laws being pushed through parliament by the Conservative party.

The Union said that an emergency congress of the TUC must be called in order to launch a campaign of defiance and civil disobedience against the bill if it becomes law.

The union’s governing executive council has already passed a resolution calling on the TUC to adopt the strategy, and to build a mass movement to resist the legislation, and said that national demonstrations and sustained mass mobilisations will be needed to defeat the bill. 

Non-compliance with the bill would be one of the most significant attempts by unions to defy employment law since the 1984-85 miners’ strike.

‘A draconian attack on rights’

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said the strategy of non-compliance was needed, as there was “no obvious route to challenge this attack through the courts”.

Wrack called the Minimum Services Level bill ‘One of the most draconian attacks on the rights of working people in decades’

Wrack said: “It’s a pernicious piece of legislation that’s in keeping with authoritarian regimes around the world. The government is deliberately attempting to strengthen the position of employers and severely weaken the position of workers. They are doing this for one purpose – to drive down wages.

“Ministers are bulldozing this anti-worker legislation through parliament, and riding roughshod over the democratic process by seeking to avoid scrutiny. The Fire Brigades Union will fiercely resist this onslaught on our democratic rights, but it’s an attack on all workers.”

Wrack said that a mass movement of non-compliance will be needed to challenge and defeat the ‘attack on working people’ by making the legislation unworkable.

He added: “The TUC can lead this movement of resistance, first by calling an emergency congress, followed by a national demonstration, and a sustained campaign of non-cooperation.”