Fair play on redundancy pay

By Tony Woodley

This Friday, Members of Parliament will have the chance to vote to make redundancy pay fairer, as Lindsay Hoyle MP’s Bill is due to receive its second reading in the Commons.

Labour’s trade unions have worked together on this campaign, to get a better deal for workers – a better deal that is more important than ever in these tough economic times.

Unions work hard to look after their members’ jobs – but when redundancies do happen, unions also want to make sure that those affected get a fair deal. But for most workers, if they are made redundant, the payment they would get for each year of service is not based on how much they earn a week – it is capped at £350 – about half of average earnings.

This is an issue that matters to millions of ordinary working people up and down the country – thousands of people have got in touch with their MPs to ask them to support the Bill. Earlier this week, we asked our supporters to get in touch with us to let us know why fair redundancy pay matters to them.

This is what they told us:

Being made redundant has a huge impact on individuals, families and communities. It’s only fair that we make sure people get the fairest deal possible.

We have had great support for this campaign from Labour Members of Parliament, and we urge them to turn out this Friday to vote the Bill through. And we also hope the government listens – to their own MPs, to the trade unions, and to all the ordinary people who deserve a better deal – and acts to right this wrong.

If you’d like to support Unite’s Save Manufacturing campaign in Cowley, please sign the petition here.