Labour's policies on the workplace would “effectively shut down Britain” and put livelihoods at risk, Michael Gove has insisted, after the Opposition raised the possibility of sympathy strikes.
The Cabinet Office Minister made his stark comment in response to John McDonnell, who insisted a Corbyn Government would ensure people had the right to withdraw their labour in sympathy with other striking workers.
Asked if secondary picketing would be restored under a Corbyn administration, Mr McDonnell said: "We'll make sure people have the right, as in the ILO[International Labour Organisation] conventions, to withdraw their labour, yes."
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Pushed further on whether people could close down a school or hospital in sympathy with the rail unions, Mr McDonnell replied: "People will have the right to withdraw their labour but let's be absolutely clear what we're doing now by these structural reforms is making sure everyone has a vested interest in the operation of their company or their public utility."
However, when asked directly whether this could mean a return to secondary picketing, he replied: "No, no, we're not. We're creating a new climate in this country which is based upon a stakeholder economy."
In response, Mr Gove said: “Labour’s unprecedented plans to rip up strike laws would hit families hard with schools, hospitals and transport shutting down at the whims of Corbyn’s union baron bankrollers.
“With his plans for a four-day week and a return to the 1970s strikes, Corbyn would cripple our NHS, economy and public services. And with Labour’s plan to waste all of next year on two chaotic referendums, Corbyn would effectively shut down Britain, putting people’s livelihoods at risk.”
Labour's election manifesto, which was unveiled by Mr Corbyn in Birmingham on Thursday, laid out plans to remove “unnecessary restrictions” on industrial action, scrap the Trade Union Act 2016 and create new rights and freedoms for workers.
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Secondary picketing, where workers can strike in solidarity with colleagues in a different industry, was banned by Margaret Thatcher's Government.
The 2016 Act introduced a majority threshold for strike action as well as a minimum threshold for approval for industrial action in key public services like fire, education and transport.
Tory HQ also pointed out Labour would “reintroduce the closed shop,” pointing to its manifesto plans for North Sea oil and gas workers to transition them to new green jobs, which would “guarantee them retraining and a new, unionised job on equivalent terms and conditions”.
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