‘How Labour’s new deal and industrial strategy help firms and help workers’

The UK has been crying out for a consistent industrial strategy. The Conservatives’ lack of industrial policy has left Britain at risk of losing the race for the jobs of the future.

The Tories’ lack of an economic plan for jobs, growth and living standards has cost workers and industry dear. Pay packets are still worth less than in 2010, insecure work has exploded, and business investment is the lowest in the G7.  

While other countries have moved quickly to future-proof their economies against climate change and other shocks, this Tory government is doing nothing to get our economy on a more secure footing.

The Welsh government shows you can be pro-worker and pro-business

We urgently need to move away from the Conservatives’ toxic brand of political short-termism. Here, the Labour government in Wales is showing there is a different way of doing things, thanks to its social partnership approach to governing and commitment to working with, business, civil society and trade unions to provide more and better opportunities for the working people of Wales. The Welsh Government is proving it can be both pro-worker and pro-business at the same time to the benefit of all.

We saw this approach in action when we had the privilege of visiting Airbus Broughton in North Wales along with Daz Reynolds, Airbus Unite site convenor, Hannah Blythyn, Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, Peter Hughes, Welsh Secretary of Unite, and Shavannah Taj, who heads up the Wales TUC.

Airbus’ importance to the Welsh economy cannot be overstated. It is one of the largest employers in Wales with over 5,500 workers and its network of supply chains has helped provide a further 11,600 jobs with the manufacturer spending over £148m a year in its local economy.

It has trained more than 4.000 apprentices over the last ten years and the company is spending hundreds of millions on decarbonisation projects to help develop hydrogen-fuelled aeroplanes.

And unions are at the heart of everything they do. After meeting with Airbus management and staff, it’s clear the company has benefitted massively from investing in its workforce and from working closely with its union Unite.

The Unite reps on-site are committed to delivering the very best for their members, and they know their industry inside out. That doesn’t mean Unite and the employer will always agree. But it’s a clear illustration of the fact that strong unions and business success and growth can go hand in hand.

The company has also committed to working with a Welsh Labour administration that wants employers, unions and government to work in partnership to deliver good-quality jobs, skills and training. It’s clear from looking at Airbus that this approach is good for business and for workers.

Tories’ divisive attack on the right to strike

That grown-up, constructive approach to industrial relations is in stark contrast to the UK government’s divisive attack on the right to strike.

The Strikes Bill would mean that when workers lawfully vote to strike in health, education, fire, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning, they could be forced to attend work and cross their own picket lines – and sacked if they don’t comply.

This legislation is impractical and unworkable and will serve only to escalate disputes and poison industrial relations. That’s why Labour has committed to repealing it and why Mark Drakeford has committed to working with unions through Wales’ social partnership model to stop workers from being issued with ‘work notices’.

Labour’s New Deal for Working People

As Airbus in Wales has shown, strong industrial policy that engages with businesses and workers leads to more productive workplaces. Labour in Wales is showing the way forward with its pro-business, pro-worker agenda. But we know that more work needs to be done to give workers security and dignity at work – both in Wales and across the UK.

Recent scandals like P&O Ferries show bad employers can get away with undercutting the good by treating their staff like disposable labour. Having promised for years to bring forward an employment bill to enhance rights and conditions – the Tories turned their back on vulnerable workers to keep their backbenchers happy. That’s why Labour’s New Deal for Working People is so important. It would be the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation.

It means an incoming Labour government would:

• Introduce day-one basic employment rights for millions of workers.
• Boost vital protections like sick pay.
• Ban exploitative practices like zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire.
• Strengthen collective bargaining, including a new agreement in adult social care to negotiate fair pay, standards and conditions.

A comprehensive package of measures that will start to address the imbalance of power in Britain’s workplaces. It’s long overdue. We need more employers like Airbus. Globally successful. Highly productive. Innovative. And crucially – unionised.