There are many that will see this proposed change in the law as a long overdue solution to a decades old problem - a way to plug the gaps left by striking workers and ensure some continuity of service.
At the same time, there is a balancing act the government must perform here, and one not without its challenges. Legislating your way out of these situations could be regarded as undermining a worker’s democratic right to strike and stifling their civil liberties. Similar proposals have been made in the past but have never come to fruition - largely because of these reasons.
For employers, there are obvious benefits in having access to agency workers in times of industrial action, but there would need to be a considerable amount of time and education required to ensure employers understand these law changes. There would also need to be thought put into which agency staff have the right skill set needed to perform certain roles. When it comes to it, there could be some push back from employers that this plan, in reality, may be more difficult to implement than it appears
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