Salford MP Rebecca Long-Bailey defends workers’ rights as strikes hit schools, trains and universities

Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey has accused the Government of trying to pass “an authoritarian and undemocratic bill” to stop striking workers.

The comments coincide with the biggest day of strikes this year with disruption expected across Salford today, February 1.

Train drivers as part of the Aslef union are striking, meaning no Northern or Transpennine Express trains will be running.

Teachers in the National Education Union are striking, meaning some schools will be shut or partially closed, and university students face a strike by the Universities and Colleges Union.

Some schools are able to open but others are closed for the day.

Swinton’s Moorside High School, for instance, is only open for year 7s and year 11s, due to staff shortages.

Salfordians reacted to the latest strikes, with Joe Rigby from Joe’s Coffee Press saying his business will be affected by the industrial action.

In Parliament, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP echoed comments from former Shadow Chancellor John McDonald MP.

The Minimum Services Levels Bill proposed by the Government would see workers required to work in certain circumstances, possibly limiting the effectiveness of a strike.

Mr McDonald has singled out “bad employers” targeting trade unionists in order to sack them.

He said: “We had 20 years of blacklisting taking place and the Government refuses to acknowledge it.

“When the union defends that trade unionist, they’ll [employers] come for the trade union itself.”

Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey agreed with the sentiment, saying: “This will be a piece of legislation that unashamedly carries out similar practices in broad daylight with the full sanction of the Secretary of State and his Prime Minister, because this is an authoritarian and undemocratic Bill.”

In her blog on Labour Outlook, she said that the Tories “seek to divide a nation and demonise, demoralise and even threaten to sack the very workforce who has tried to hold our country together over the last two difficult years.”

Kevin Hollinrake MP, Under-Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy defended the bill during the debate, saying it would “maintain a reasonable balance between the ability of workers to strike and the ability to keep the lives and livelihoods of the British public safe.”