LONDON — Unions founded Britain’s governing Labour Party. But that doesn’t mean they’ll always have its back.
A year into Keir Starmer’s government, union reps can point to some big wins, including a dedicated workers’ rights bill and the cooling of several pay disputes that had simmered under the previous Conservative government.
Yet unions are still pressing Labour for more, and ministers are quickly discovering that a flurry of above-inflation pay hikes is not enough to satiate them.
A Labour MP on the left of the party, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said relations between Labour and the unions were now “strained to a degree” because of the stagnant state of the British economy.
“There’s a fairly widespread sense of unhappiness about the direction of the country, and that obviously reads on to the Labour Party,” they said of the current union mood.
Striking a bargain
Labour won the July 2024 elections by a landslide, running on a ticket of “change”.
On labor relations, the need for a shift was obvious.
Under the Conservatives, millions of working days were lost as train drivers, doctors and teachers all walked out over pay and terms, while the government, citing concerns about Britain’s shaky public finances, resisted.
Labour wanted to show swift action — and a jolt to straining public services — by settling pay claims with numerous public sector workers who were demanding the restoration of their pay to historic levels. Teachers received a 5.5 percent pay award, train drivers were handed a 15 percent multi-year uplift, and resident doctors got a 22.3 percent rise over two years on average.
“It was an important signal of intent from the government,” reflects Trades Union Congress General Secretary Paul Nowak. His body represents 48 affiliated unions and roughly 5.5 million workers. “It was good for our members, but more importantly, it was good for public services and the people that rely on them.”
A much-hyped Employment Rights Bill is also going through parliament. It promises to end some of the more insecure forms of work, ban “fire and rehire” schemes, and grant workers the right to challenge unfair dismissal from the day they start employment. Unions have welcomed involvement with the legislation, although some critics remain.
The Labour MP cited above said the bill was far from perfect: “It doesn’t really deal with the collective rights which workers need to protect themselves fully.”
Tighten the purse strings
Union reps say that Labour has been much better at communicating with unions than its predecessors, although they argue this was a low bar to clear.
“It’s been night and day in comparison to our relationship with the previous Conservative governments,” says Nowak. “This is clearly a government that actually sees a positive role for unions in a modern economy and sees us as part of the solution.”
Yet consulting is not the same as acting, and last year’s pay settlements may have already set a precedent.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tight fiscal rules mean this is an expectation the government is unlikely to meet.
“We know how tight the fiscal position is, but we also know we’ve got a crisis in our public services that have been underfunded,” argues Nowak, who points to problems in recruiting and retaining staff.
Britain has a series of independent pay review bodies tasked with examining the economic picture and recommending salary hikes for many public sector workers. Still, it is ministers who ultimately decide who receives the increases.
This year, the body for resident doctors recommended a far more modest 5.4 percent increase for 2025-2026. Health Secretary Wes Streeting backed that call — and faced an immediate backlash.
The British Medical Association, which represents doctors, branded the hike inadequate as it did not restore real-terms pay to 2008 levels. They’re already balloting members for strike action that could last at least six months, at a time when the government doesn’t need the headache.
“The bedside manner is much better, but the NHS is still really sick,” says Emma Runswick, deputy chair of council at the BMA. “We have an NHS which is hemorrhaging staff because it’s eroded their pay so badly and it treats them so poorly.”
Streeting, who is expected to unveil a 10-year reform plan for the publicly funded National Health Service this week, is urging doctors not to strike and instead to “work with the government.”
But unions shouldn’t expect much. Although the health secretary says his door is open, Streeting has stressed there are no further funds for pay increases.
“If you’re going to base yourself as the party who founded the NHS … where’s the action to back that up?” Runswick asks.
For Labour MPs with a union background, this kind of punchy approach isn’t too surprising. “I don’t think that kind of rhetoric is uncommon in the trade union movement,” says Labour MP Steve Witherden, a former teacher who remains in a teaching union. “They’re obviously setting themselves up for a negotiating position.”
“Even a trade union leader [who] might want to be able to be favorable to the Labour government … will be feeling the breath of their members down their necks,” says the Labour MP quoted at the top of this article.
The Labour government, by standing firm against union demands, is betting that public opinion has shifted since past disputes. A YouGov poll of 4,100 adults in May found that 48 percent somewhat or strongly opposed resident doctors striking, compared to 39 percent somewhat or strongly supporting them. That’s a fall in support since a comparable YouGov poll was conducted last year.
“If it’s a profession they admire and like and think makes a significant contribution, they tend to be favorable toward strike action,” says YouGov’s Head of European Political and Social Research Anthony Wells.
But he adds: “While people hugely value doctors, doctors are also already seen as being relatively well paid, so they get far less support for strikes than nurses do.”
“There’s an awful lot more that needs to be done,” said left-wing Labour MP Ian Lavery, a former National Union of Mineworkers president, regarding union discontent. “They’ve got to get their heads together.”
It’s not just healthcare staff getting antsy. Refuse workers in the city of Birmingham have been on strike for over 100 days due to pay disputes, and the Unite union recently extended that strike mandate until December.
National Education Union members also rejected the government’s 2.8 percent pay offer for teachers and leaders in April, with 83.4 percent of respondents saying they would be willing to take strike action.
Labour is also treading a fine line with its workers’ rights package, as firms that are already smarting from increased taxes warn the bill’s measures could further dent the government’s growth agenda. The opposition Tories have promised to scrap the package if they return to power in the next election.
Summer of discontent?
A summer of strikes could make the growth Reeves desperately covets even harder to achieve — and draw unfavorable historical comparisons.
In the 1970s, Labour was effectively toppled for a generation by what became known as the “Winter of Discontent.” Garbage piled up on the streets, bodies weren’t buried, and health, rail and haulage workers made their anger known.
To avert a similar fate, some in the party say keeping unions on side is essential. “The most important thing about relations is that you always keep those channels of dialogue open,” Witherden argues.
Nowak, who has been publicly supportive of much of the government’s agenda, argues that sorting out pay won’t be enough, particularly in the public sector. “There needs to be a longer-term, more strategic discussion … about what’s the future of the public sector workforce” on issues like flexible working and artificial intelligence, he says. “That’s the missing piece of the jigsaw for me.”
However, for a government already struggling to put out multiple fires, keeping the unions sweet will be easier said than done.
“The fiscal framework which the government’s working to is incredibly tight,” said the anonymous Labour MP. “It’s difficult to see how they’re going to fund further pay rises that can meet people’s expectations.”
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