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An almost total rejection of Osborne’s plan to cut workers’ rights – FROM EMPLOYERS

December 5, 2012 11:01 am

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A plan to cut workers’ rights was the centrepiece of George Osborne’s conference speech, and is expected to feature heavily in today’s Autumn Statement “with some small adjustments”. The Guardian reports:

Osborne had proposed new employees be exempt from unfair dismissal rights, redundancy pay and the right to request flexible working, and in return they would receive shares in a company between £2,000 and £50,000 exempt from capital gains tax. Access to maternity rights would also be curtailed.

The report of a 33-week consultation undertaken by the business department on his proposal states “a very small number of responses welcomed the scheme and suggested they would be interested in taking it up”.

The number of businesses who fully backed the scheme was less than 5 out of a total of 209 consulted. Lets take a look at how those numbers compare:

And now let’s take a look at the percentage of businesses who thought taking away workers’ right would have a positive impact, compared to the percentage who thought it would have little or no impact:

And yet George Osborne is still expected to announce this scheme today.

It’s ideological, it’s about taking away your rights, it’s got nothing to do with what businesses want.

Related posts:

  1. This Mother’s Day, don’t let the Tories keep mum about workers’ rights
  2. Workers and businesses need a real industrial strategy, not a bank with no money and a workplace with few rights
  3. Older workers and electoral politics
  4. Unjust and unjustifiable: 11 non-unionised Vestas workers sacked for protest
  5. Young workers – undermined

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