MORE than five million workers will have their right to strike abolished under the government’s repressive new laws, the TUC has said.

Workers who refuse to comply with the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill can be sacked with no recourse to employment protection laws.

TUC analysis has revealed that 5.5 million workers will be affected, based on a total workforce in England, Scotland and Wales of 27.5 million.

Workers in the north of Ireland are excluded from the legislation.

The Bill affects workers in health, education, fire, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning, and is due for its third reading in the House of Lords today.

Health is the largest sector affected with 2.29 million workers, followed by education at 2.08 million and transport at 1.01 million, according to the TUC analysis.

The power to define “essential services” during strike action will rest entirely with the Business Secretary, currently Grant Shapps.

The Bill has faced a barrage of criticism from civil liberties and human rights organisations, in the House of Lords, from race and gender equalities groups, employment rights lawyers and politicians.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “This Conservative government is threatening the right to strike of as many as one in five workers up and down the country.

“This is a spiteful Bill. No-one should be sacked for trying to win a better deal at work.

“But this draconian legislation would mean that when workers democratically vote to strike, they could be forced to work and sacked if they don’t comply.

“It’s undemocratic, it’s unworkable and it’s very likely illegal.

“Ministers have tried to keep the public in the dark about the true nature of this Bill.

“They are ramming it through — shortcutting normal parliamentary procedures and ducking scrutiny. 

“And they are giving themselves the power to snatch away the right to strike of five-and-a-half million workers.

“With inflation still running at over 10 per cent the last thing workers need is for ministers to make it harder to secure better pay and conditions.

“It’s time for ministers to protect the right to strike and ditch this Bill for good.”