On 13 January, police reportedly arrested a barrister and trade union official on a lawful picket line. His legal representative later revealed that she was exploring potential legal action to ‘hold the police to account’.

“A dangerous precedent”

The events unfolded at St George’s, University of London, whose medical school was facing strike action over the issue of outsourcing. The United Voices of the World (UVW) union, which organised the action, said the arrest of the barrister – currently the head of the UVW’s legal department:

marks a potential watershed in industrial relations and could set a dangerous precedent for the erosion of civil liberties and workers’ rights if left unchallenged.

12 police officers reportedly responded to a call from university management asking them to move workers and trade union officials off the picket line. They issued a letter from the university which argued that the strike action could not take place on NHS property. Officers then threatened those present with arrest if they took longer than five minutes to leave.

This is the excessive number of police that have come to our picket. They attempted to arrest our head of legal and threatened to arrest all of the workers. This is how ⁦@StGeorgesUni⁩ treats it’s staff. pic.twitter.com/sv9Es1EoSn — Kane Shaw (@KaneShaw16) January 13, 2020

Barrister Franck Magennis questioned the legal basis for the police warning and was, according to the UVW:

swiftly arrested and handcuffed, and subsequently de-arrested and released less than five minutes later on the condition that he immediately leave the site.

Here is a photo of @FranckMagennis being arrested at @StGeorgesUni, this is frightening not only from a workers rights perspective but from the perspective of civil liberties and any citizens’ right not to be arbitrarily arrested pic.twitter.com/hnWUycOE1G — United Voices of the World (@UVWunion) January 13, 2020

“Important constitutional issues” at play

Magennis said after his release that:

If my false imprisonment goes unchallenged, that would allow the Metropolitan Police to criminalise what is lawful civil activity, and would have a chilling effect on workers’ ability to stand up to bosses and exercise their civil liberties. Anyone concerned with a worker’s right to take industrial action, and with a citizen’s right not to be arbitrarily arrested, should be seriously concerned about the way the police have acted today. Workers should be allowed to go on strike without being threatened with arrest. This is an outrage.

Magennis’s legal representative Susie Labinjoh, meanwhile, insisted that:

clearly important constitutional issues are raised by Mr Magennis’ arrest. We will be looking at all legal avenues to ensure that the police are held to account, that trade union members are not criminalised for going on strike, and that people are not arbitrarily arrested.

Barrister and @UVWunion trade union official @FranckMagennis was unlawfully arrested yesterday on a picket line during an industrial dispute over the role of #outsourcing. He is exploring legal options, represented by @HJAcivillibs partner Susie Labinjoh https://t.co/nVWyTZ9qLp pic.twitter.com/kmakVOqm9f — HJA Civil Liberties (@HJAcivillibs) January 14, 2020

We secured an assurance from the Met Police that for today’s ongoing industrial action only the neighbourhood policing team will be deployed to “monitor the protest and ensure it passes peacefully and that “officers will of course respect workers’ rights to protest peacefully”. — HJA Civil Liberties (@HJAcivillibs) January 14, 2020

Featured image via Yukiko Matsuoka