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The party who received 24% of eligible votes at the general election has told Unions they will require 40% of eligible votes in order to take strike action in future.
The move to introduce the new minimum mandate is seen as a way to legitimise actions that are seen as ‘unpopular’ and ‘disruptive’ – unlike popular actions such as benefit reforms and austerity measures.
Newly appointed Business Secretary Sajid Javid has said there would need to be at least 40% of eligible union members voting for strike action to make it legal in future, unlike a party that can change the law with just 24% of eligible votes at a general election.
He told reporters, “You’re mixing up two figures that are completely different. We’re saying that in future the unions will need 40% of people who can vote to vote for strike action, whereas it was 24% of people who could vote that did vote for us.”
“Their mandate for doing something unpopular is very different to our mandate for doing something unpopular.”
“We’re saying the Unions can’t use people who stay at home and don’t vote to justify their strike action, unlike us using the 34% of people who stayed at home to help us win an election.”
“Do you get it now? They literally couldn’t be less comparable.”
Strike reform
Voter Simon Williams told us, “Look, I’m no fan of Tube drivers striking because they need eight weeks paid holiday or whatever, obviously.”
“But either the government also needs 40% of eligible votes to enact it’s unpopular policies, or we allow Unions to make their decision with the same 24% proportion the Conservatives got – seems fair to me?”
