Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to help protect workers from (a) dismissal and (b) other disciplinary action arising from their participation in legal strikes.

Under existing legislation employees taking part in official protected industrial action lasting up to 12 weeks are protected from dismissal. The question of what other disciplinary action an employer can take in these circumstances was recently considered by the Supreme Court in the case of Mercer v Alternative Futures Group Ltd. The Government is carefully looking at the judgment in that case and will respond in due course.