Employers should be allowed to use agency workers to cover in industrial action, according to John Cridland, deputy director-general of the CBI.

In a new report, the CBI has outlined a raft of measures aimed at modernising employment relations legislation and keep the recovery on track.

The CBI says the law needs updating to reflect the fact that 85% of private sector employees are not members of a union, and that most employers now negotiate directly with staff or their representatives to bring about changes in the workplace.

John Cridland, deputy director-general of the CBI, says: “When a legitimate strike threatens to disrupt the services on which the public depends, it is only right that it should require a higher bar of support. That is why no strike should go ahead unless 40% of the balloted workforce has voted for it.

“While workers have the legal right to withdraw their labour, employers have a responsibility to run their businesses. The public increasingly expects it to be business as usual, even during a strike, so firms must be allowed to hire temps directly from an agency to provide emergency cover for striking workers.”

His views coincide with those of Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who told the Conservative party conference in Birmingham that he wants the government to introduce legislation preventing action unless at least 50% of union members in a workplace take part in a ballot.