‘Labour should be proud of Employment Rights Bill – and fight hard to defend it’

In our first year in office, the new Labour Government has started turning the page on 14 years of Tory chaos. We took bold action in our first 100 days, bringing forward the Employment Rights Bill, to reverse much of the Tories’ draconian anti-trade union laws and transform workers’ rights – the first step in realising the New Deal for Working People.

These should be some of Labour’s proudest achievements in our first year. Now is the time get this message out to voters and defend it from the attacks it is still getting from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

The Employment Rights Bill is a truly transformative piece of legislation. There will be no more waiting two years or longer for basic rights to kick in – workers will now have security from day one, with the right to protection from unfair dismissal and entitlement to paternity leave and parental leave.

We are also introducing the new Fair Work Agency to enforce rights and crack down on bad employers. This levels the playing field, and makes sure good employers are rewarded for treating their staff well.

New protections in the Bill also make it harder for bad employers to threaten to fire you if you don’t accept cuts in pay or conditions – strengthening protections against fire and rehire to prevent another P&O scandal.

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For those on zero hours contracts, the Bill also means workers will have the right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work, and if your shift is cut short or cancelled on short notice, Labour’s Bill means you’re entitled to fair compensation to make up for it.

We know that unionised workplaces are more likely to provide decent pay, better conditions, and benefits such as holiday and sick pay. That’s why the Employment Rights Bill repeals much of the Tories’ draconian 2016 Trade Union Act, and the completely unworkable Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Act.

In its place, there will be new rights to help unions recruit, organise and win a better deal for members. This includes strengthening unions’ rights on recognition, a new right for unions to access workplaces, new and strengthened protections for trade union reps and officials, and new rights for union Equality Reps. This all makes it easier for unions to organise and work to improve pay and conditions.

Labour believes strong collective bargaining rights and institutions are key to tackling problems of insecurity, inequality, discrimination, enforcement and low pay. That’s why the Employment Rights Bill is bringing in Fair Pay Agreements, creating Adult Social Care Negotiating Bodies in England, Wales and Scotland and reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body in England and Wales, to bring employers and unions together to negotiate and agree pay and conditions across the sectors.

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None of this would have happened if Labour was not elected last July. And we know this is popular: research from HOPE not Hate shows that 1 in 2 voters who say they will vote for Reform UK believe it would be reasonable to strengthen workers’ rights further.

But even now, these huge strides forward for working people are under threat. In the House of Lords, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have banded together to take out key measures and weaken these new rights for workers. They’ve changed the right to a guaranteed hours contract to a right just to ask for one and removed seasonal workers from new fire and rehire protections.

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As for Reform, their MPs voted against the Bill at every opportunity, firmly showing that when it actually comes to taking meaningful action, they’re not on the side of working people.

Labour will stand firm, fight these amendments when they come back to the Commons, and get the word out on the transformative impact this Labour government is having on the lives of working people.

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