The IEA’s Editorial and Research Fellow Prof. Len Shackleton has written for CapX discussing what the government can do to combat rising trade union militancy.

Outlining the core economic issue with union power, Len wrote:

“A common feature of this wave of militancy is a demand for inflation-busting pay increases, with little willingness to consider changes in working arrangements to increase productivity. Those kinds of reforms are the only sustainable way to boost pay – something everybody wants to see.”

He also emphasised that the need for greater clarity on the government’s plans for tackling union militancy, writing:

“The plan to get union members to vote on pay offers is more promising, though we need to know more about how this would be done, at what stage of negotiation, how a new offer would be treated and so on.”

The full article can be read here.