22/06/2011

Synopsis

Nick Robinson goes behind the closed doors of Whitehall and Westminster to ask how controversial decisions are reached. This week, he and his panel examine changing the rules for calling strikes.

Should our local school, the train we take to work, even the local job centre, be closed by strikes which do not have the majority of members backing them? Pressure is certainly growing for a change, from the Mayor of London, business leaders and some Conservative MPs. They want a minimum threshold of support before a union can call its members out on strike.

Critics, though, point out that no government in history would cross such a high democratic hurdle, that the right to strike is fundamental and anyway, workers these days only strike in extreme circumstances.

Nick is joined by the Conservative MP Dominic Raab, who has a backbench bill on the issue, by John Edmonds, the former General Secretary of the powerful GMB union, by Lord Tebbit, the former Employment Secretary who was largely responsible for the current laws, by Helen Leiser, a former senior civil servant responsible for employment relations, and by Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor of The Times.

Producer: Giles Edwards.