`Ban political strikes'
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NO RIGHTS can be given to strikers without taking away from the rights of others, said Employment Under Secretary David Wadding ton.
Speaking at an Industrial Law Society conference in London, he said the Government had a duty to protect the public from strikes which have nothing to do with the terms and conditions of work of the actual strikers.
The Government also has a duty to protect businesses from being damaged by industrial action which they could do nothing to prevent, because it had nothing to do with those businesses or their employees.
The Government was acting to limit protection to disputes between employees and their own employers; to make plain that if the real reason for the action was political there should be no protection; to exclude from protection in this country in support of a foreign dispute; and to exclude from protection interunion disputes.
The last winter had shown the irresponsibility of a minority of trades union leaders, Mr Waddington said. "Successive Governments must bear some blame for this behaviour. For years we have encouraged trades unions to believe they are above the law. Small wonder they sometimes behave accordingly."