Skip to main content
NEU Senior Regional Support Officer
Government told not to overturn ban on agency workers during strikes
‘Bringing in agency staff to deliver important services in place of strikers risks endangering public safety, worsening disputes and poisoning industrial relations,’ TUC says
General secretary of the Trades Union Congress Paul Nowak

TORY ministers must make a “clear commitment” not to overturn a reinstated ban on bosses using temporary agency workers to break strikes, the TUC demanded today.

The widely criticised end to the long-standing ban — enacted in the dying days of former prime minister Boris Johnson’s scandal-hit administration last summer — was quashed as of today following a High Court ruling last month. 

Judges found that then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng failed to consult unions as required by the Employment Agencies Act 1973 when making the draconian changes. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Job & Talent agency bin workers during protest, organised by Unite the Union, as they march to Council House in Victoria Square, Birmingham, on the first day of strike action by refuse workers employed by the company, December 1, 2025
Birmingham Bin Workers' Strike / 30 January 2026
30 January 2026

Megapicket to shut down Birmingham’s refuse sites

RIGHTS NEEDED: Prison officers face a uniquely tough working environment and must be able to flex their industrial muscle
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

Our members face serious violence, crumbling workplaces and exposure to dangerous drugs — it is outrageous we still cannot legally use our industrial muscle to fight back and defend ourselves, writes STEVE GILLAN