Crossing the Rubicon: The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 as an Authoritarian Crucible

IF 1 4区 社会学 Q3 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR
Ioannis Katsaroumpas
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Abstract

Abstract In the 1980s and 1990s, Conservative Governments contemplated but ultimately refused direct interventions in strikes in essential services as unenforceable and ineffective. The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 crosses this Rubicon. It does so not by a participatory framework but by granting Ministers and employers virtually unrestrained powers to restrict (and effectively prohibit by neutralising the impact of) industrial action by imposing minimum service levels. This article offers a critical account of the Act based on three main claims. First, it argues that the Act is shaped by what is termed ‘coercive dual unilateralism’, an authoritarian crucible of three elements: (i) executive unilateralism, (ii) employer unilateralism and (iii) coercion (severe sanctions compounded by chilling legal uncertainty of ill-defined duties). Secondly, it challenges the Government’s claim of the Act’s compliance with ILO standards and Article 11 ECHR as a misconstruction. Thirdly, it finds that the Act satisfies all three authoritarian markers (stifling of dissent, direct state coercion, elevation of social order as an external justification for restrictions) identified in Bogg’s seminal account of the TUA 2016 as a shift away from neo-liberalism to authoritarianism. But it resists a ‘beyond neo-liberalism’ conclusion. Instead, it argues that the Act should be seen as the product of a ‘strong-weak' state (strong in power, weak in securing consent) that seeks to fortify neo-liberalism against a sharpened contestation reflected in the current strike wave.
跨越卢比孔河:2023年罢工(最低服务水平)法案作为威权主义的坩埚
在20世纪80年代和90年代,保守党政府考虑但最终拒绝直接干预基本服务罢工,因为这是不可执行的和无效的。《2023年罢工(最低服务水平)法案》跨过了这条卢比孔河。它不是通过一个参与性框架,而是通过授予部长和雇主几乎不受限制的权力,通过规定最低服务水平来限制(并通过消除影响而有效地禁止)工业行动。本文基于三个主要主张对该法案进行了批判性的解释。首先,它认为该法案是由所谓的“强制双重单边主义”形成的,这是一个由三个因素组成的专制坩埚:(i)行政单边主义,(ii)雇主单边主义和(iii)胁迫(严厉的制裁加上对不明确职责的令人心寒的法律不确定性)。第二,它对政府声称该法符合劳工组织标准和《欧洲人权公约》第11条的说法提出质疑,认为这是曲解。第三,它发现该法案满足了博格斯对2016年TUA的重要描述中确定的从新自由主义向威权主义转变的所有三个威权主义标志(扼杀异议,直接的国家强制,提升社会秩序作为限制的外部理由)。但它拒绝“超越新自由主义”的结论。相反,它认为,该法案应被视为一个“强弱”国家的产物(权力强大,在获得同意方面薄弱),旨在加强新自由主义,以对抗当前罢工浪潮中反映出来的尖锐争论。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.90
自引率
20.00%
发文量
30
期刊介绍: Industrial Law Journal is established as the leading periodical in its field, providing comment and in-depth analysis on a wide range of topics relating to employment law. It is essential reading for practising lawyers, academics, and lay industrial relations experts to keep abreast of newly enacted legislation and proposals for law reform. In addition Industrial Law Journal carries commentary on relevant government publications and reviews of books relating to labour law.
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