Great Repeal Bill: TUC boss demands May protects workers’ rights

Theresa May must promise to protect workers’ rights, Frances O’Grady has said.

The government will be laying out its plans to remove EU law from the statute book in the Great Repeal Bill later today. This comes after the government triggered Article 50, which gives the UK two years to negotiate a deal to leave the EU.

O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, has demanded Theresa May maintain her promise to protect and maintain all workers’ rights, including people who come from the EU.

“These are rights we all rely on – like rules to guarantee safe workplaces, equal pay for women, protection from excessive working hours, and rights to equal treatment for agency workers,” she said.

“The TUC will be watching closely to make sure that every workplace right that comes from the EU is protected – now and into the future.”

O’Grady has asked May to put a clause in the Bill that pledges the government can’t use “antiquated Henry VIII powers to go back and punch holes in worker protections on the quiet, without parliamentary scrutiny.

“To honour her repeated public promise to protect workers’ rights, the prime minister should put a clause in the Bill that ensures that her government can’t use antiquated Henry VIII powers to go back and punch holes in worker protections on the quiet, without parliamentary scrutiny.

“And the prime minister must also ensure protecting workers’ rights is at the heart of the UK’s future trade deal with the EU. The UK should sign up to a level playing field with our EU partners – not a race to the bottom on workplace rights. We don’t want hardworking Brits to miss out on new rights that workers in other European nations get.”