The Section 188 Chainsaw Massacre

This week’s announcement by Shropshire County Council of plans to dismiss its entire workforce make it the latest in a growing list of public sector employers to use Section 188 (of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992) notices in order to unilaterally impose cuts in pay and conditions: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/07/council-pay-cuts-unions

Gregor Gall reports that ‘by late November last year, Rhondda Cynon Taf (10,000 employees), Sheffield city council (8,500), Birmingham city council (26,000), Walsall (8,400), Croydon (4,000), London fire service (700) and Northumberland county council (14,780) had all begun the process of dismissing their workforces in order to then re-engage them on poorer terms and conditions of employment'.