‘Labour must deliver the New Deal for Working People in full and without delay’

As Labour heads to Liverpool for what could be its final party conference before the next election, the polls suggest there’s a real chance of a change of government next year. But we cannot be complacent and we have to fight to make that a reality.

What will this mean for working people? We know that yet another Tory government will further strip away what meagre rights we have left. So we can’t kick out Rishi Sunak and his billionaire mates soon enough. But we are also clear in demanding that any incoming government must take decisive action to improve things for millions of workers in the UK.  

That’s why, together with the ten other unions affiliated to the Trade Union Coordinating Group (TUCG), we have published a new pamphlet titled Workers’ Rights: What Should a Labour Government Deliver?. If Labour were to implement its New Deal for Working People document in full and without delay, this would go a long way to transforming the lives of working people.

Successive Tory Prime Ministers have waged war on workers’ rights

Since the election of David Cameron in 2010, a series of Tory Prime Ministers – building on three earlier decades of neoliberal ‘reform’ of the labour market – have unleashed a further series of anti-worker laws through restrictions on the ability to organise collectively in effective trade unions. This in turn has made workers poorer. 

There is a veritable wild west in employment standards, with an epidemic of low pay, poor working conditions, zero-hours contracts, bogus self-employment and even ‘fire and rehire’.

Our ability to organise to fight back has been shackled by the introduction of arbitrary turnout thresholds and bureaucratic hurdles and the continued insistence on mandatory postal ballots. Should “minimum service levels” ever be implemented, unions will be required to instruct members to comply with work notices to cross picket lines. Members not complying can be dismissed and unions not complying lose their immunity from prosecution.

The experience of our members at P&O Ferries was perhaps the nadir of this situation. Unlawfully dismissed with no prior consultation, they saw their employment terminated without notice, to be replaced by an exploited workforce paid below the national minimum wage.

The sacked workers were met by hired goons in balaclavas attempting to frogmarch them off their vessels. Welcome to employment in 21st century Britain!

The P&O scandal has shown that, as well as a new settlement to protect working people on land, a Labour government’s employment bill also needs specific provisions to protect seafarers who are currently subjected to a range of legislative exemptions and employment practices that make them particularly vulnerable to attack from the likes of P&O Ferries and their owners DP World.

Monday 12.30 at Labour Conference in Liverpool #Lab23 #Labconf23 Room 14, ACC – with @LabourList

Speakers: @justinmadders, Mick Lynch @RMTunion, @MattWrack @FranHeathcote @kategobell and @JohnHendyQC – Chaired by @DrJoGrady of @ucu pic.twitter.com/kAhF7vlVk0

— Trade Union Coordinating Group (@TUCGinfo) October 3, 2023

Three parts of Labour’s New Deal could be particularly game-changing

Three elements of Labour’s New Deal for Working People could be particularly game-changing, if fully delivered. Firstly, the extension of sectoral collective bargaining across the economy would not only help to deliver better pay and conditions and job security for millions of workers but also simultaneously embed the trade union movement and our progressive values in all of our communities.

Secondly, the commitment to “oversee the biggest wave of insourcing of public services for a generation” would reverse the race to the bottom that outsourcing has inflicted on hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers, disproportionately hitting minority and migrant communities.

Indeed, Labour in power through the London mayor Sadiq Khan has already recognised this and has facilitated meaningful discussions with the RMT to see if a decision can be made in the next few months that could see thousands of outsourced transport cleaners in the capital taken back in-house. If the mayor makes the right decision on this one, we can demonstrate that Labour’s commitment to insourcing is the real deal. 

Lastly, the commitment to repeal anti-worker and anti-union legislation such as the Trade Union Act 2016 and the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 would be a necessary first step in urgently stripping away the full gamut of anti-worker laws which have driven down wages and increased job insecurity in recent decades.

A new government won’t guarantee change – our fight will continue

So we were encouraged to hear deputy leader Angela Rayner use her speech to TUC Congress last month to make a “cast-iron commitment” that an incoming Labour government would bring an employment bill within its first 100 days of taking office, to begin implementing the New Deal for Working People.  

But to win the support of working people, it will take more than good speeches from Labour politicians. We need to see the whole party walk the walk. With the National Policy Forum document being debated in Liverpool, it is concerning to read that important parts of the New Deal would appear to have been watered down by some elements in the party.

To be clear, the position of the TUC, reaffirmed at its Congress in September, is that the New Deal must be implemented in full, including repeal of anti-union legislation and the introduction of sectoral collective bargaining across the economy. I am confident that the campaign for full implementation of the New Deal, and indeed further pro-worker, pro-union legislation, will continue well beyond Labour conference and well into a Labour government.

I imagine there is not one trade union under the illusion that simply voting in a new government will be a guarantee that our ambitions will all be realised. Even a cabinet which genuinely intends to implement progressive policies will need to mobilise active public support and face down the vested interests of the 1%. We will need to fight the Tories to ensure there is a Labour government, and we will need to fight for the implementation of the New Deal.  

That is why it is so important that we now find a popular message, language and campaign that ensures the benefits of the New Deal are understood by millions of working people, and that it will mean Labour will deliver working people a better standard of living and job security through better rights at work. Labour should see the extension of workers’ rights as the vote winner it is and enthusiastically promote the New Deal for Working People as a core general election message for making the kind of change this country so badly needs.

The TUCG and LabourList are holding a joint conference fringe meeting on the topic ‘What would workers’ rights look like under a Labour government’, with Justin Madders MP (shadow BEIS/levelling up minister), Mick Lynch (RMT general secretary), Matt Wrack (FBU general secretary), Fran Heathcote (PCS president), Kate Bell (assistant general secretary of the TUC) and Lord John Hendy KC, chaired by Dr Jo Grady (UCU general secretary).

The event will be on Monday October 9th at 12:30 in meeting room 14 of the ACC in Liverpool (conference passes required).