Union leaders fear the extreme measures \u2013 not even known to be under consideration until now \u2013 could have also been considered for other sectors, theoretically leading to more than a million workers banned from joining unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: \u201cThese emails reveal that while the government publicly is saying: \u2018We want to resolve the dispute\u2019, behind the scenes they were preparing the biggest attacks on fundamental rights and freedoms that we would have seen in this country for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The emails, drawn up by officials and lawyers in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and shared last month with senior civil servants, presented three models for Sunak to consider to form the government\u2019s anti-strike laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first, described as a \u201cpolice service ban on striking\u201d because officers are banned from industrial action, advocated \u201cBF staff banned from joining a trade union\u201d with striking or \u201cinciting disaffection\u201d to become a criminal offence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another model, a \u201cprison service-style ban on striking\u201d, would replicate restrictions on prison officers who are also banned from industrial action with possible concessions such as a new independent pay review body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third option \u2013 the one chosen last week \u2013 was legislation to enforce \u201cminimum service levels\u201d in public sectors such as the NHS, with employers able to sue unions and sack staff if minimum standards are not met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All three were put to Downing Street last month with the emails revealing that \u201cwe [senior BEIS officials] do not yet have a firm view on the preferred model from PM\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The emails, however, show that the most extreme model \u2013 banning workers from trade union membership \u2013 was rejected only because it might \u201cbe difficult to justify\u201d because the European Convention on Human Rights guaranteed UK workers the right to join a union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of this, civil servants felt the minimum service levels model was their \u201cpreferred option\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serwotka said the proposals suggested this government was more hardline than that of Margaret Thatcher, who provoked uproar after imposing a ban on union membership of employees at GCHQ, the UK\u2019s intelligence, security and cyber agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis takes Thatcher\u2019s doctrine to whole new levels,\u201d said Serwotka, whose union is the largest representing civil servants in the UK, with more than 100,000 members, including 4,000 Border Force staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the leaked emails cite only Border Force staff as being banned from joining a union, PCS sources believe the restrictions would have been applied to other sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government\u2019s minimum service levels legislation affects six sectors including border security, health, education, fire, ambulance, rail and nuclear commissioning, and Serwotka believes that the government would have attempted to ban union membership to workers in all these areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Passengers](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/ff292f5b90e1e76bd41be666cb27ccee1f8cf6d1\/0_483_4032_2419\/master\/4032.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b86b68d778083d79fb6562c3c601d2c9\")
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