‘I spent years telling workers the law couldn’t help them – that has changed’

The Employment Rights Act has now received royal assent, a golden example of how political power wielded by those working in the interest of the many, can still shape the law and foster our collective values.

It is largely why I sit here today working for a Labour MP who was intent on ensuring legislation like this became reality. I left working as an employment solicitor two years ago, tired and frustrated with the status quo, and the time I spent dwelling about those people I had to tell for years: there was little that protected them from employers, addicted to hire and dumping employees (grotesquely referred to as a “flexible labour market”). It might have been easier to disassociate and carry on billing.

When I first read the New Deal for Working People, I had doubts as to whether it would see the pages of a Labour Manifesto. All the reasons I joined the party, set out in one ambitious document. I recall pressing my local MP on this at the time, as to whether he thought the leadership was serious about making this happen. I was assured that work was underway and to coin Dennis Skinner’s phrase – the party had “got weaving”.

In less than 18 months, the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation has passed through parliament – I am elated, not for me but for those people who will now assert these rights.

‘Millions of workers had been overlooked for too long’

My original concerns were born out of my lived experience in the workplace: that the elements of the New Deal which might benefit the less talked about non-unionised private sector workers, would be watered down in pursuit of what would benefit already organised unionised workplaces.

Millions of workers had been overlooked for too long – the private sector low-paid white-collar worker (call handlers, legal secretaries etc.), often working longer hours than they are paid for in the services sector, lacking agency and non-unionised – forced to put up or be replaced by an endless supply of labour emanating from our universities with limited jobs to match their degree.

There will be little fanfare about the new Fair Work Agency (FWA), but this will strengthen enforcement on holiday pay, sick pay and the minimum wage. A real and tangible improvement in protections for so many who do not have a union rep at work.

I saw endless cases in private practice creek along the hollowed out tribunal system, a final hearing often years away for claims worth sometimes as little as £500 (the difference between being able to pay rent or not for a client).

The FWA will rectify this: enforcement of everyday employment rights without being tossed into the long grass, no longer cut off from enforcing rights at work, because of light touch laws and a broken system. The Tribunal has been a hiding place for unscrupulous employers with deep pockets – that ends with this act.

READ MORE: ‘The Employment Rights Bill is a massive step forward – but we’re not done delivering for working people’

‘This is a step change in workers’ rights’

Yes, there have been compromises, take the unfair dismissal qualifying period. However, cutting this period down to six months from the harsh 2-year period is crucial for the security and dignity of work – more so given the qualifying period will be set out in primary legislation – protected from the whims of statutory instruments laid by a future government on a quiet Thursday afternoon in parliament.

I lost count of how many times I had to inform someone that yes they had worked hard for almost two years, but there was almost nothing I could do to help where their employer hired and fired them on the cusp of two years’ service. Now employers will have to genuinely hire well, integrate and train their workforce.

Be in no doubt, this is a step change in workers’ rights for every worker up and down the country but it is perhaps even more important for the “invisible workers” in the private sector – Labour should shout that from the rooftops, they are as much part of the working class as anybody else – and importantly, their hearts and minds will need to be won, come the next election.

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This legislation has passed despite the best efforts of Tory, Lib Dem and Green Peers trying to deny the rebalancing of rights and power at work. This Labour Party is delivering exactly what it was formed to do – it should both move and motivate us for the campaign battles ahead.

‘This is the Labour Party I joined and one that I’m proud of’

This New Deal demonstrates that Labour is standing up for working people and the common good. Much like when the NMW was introduced, upgrades to workers’ rights are met with hostility by the hoarders of wealth and privilege. Some of the press, the wealthy business lobby and naysayers will continue to say it is too much, that the doers and the strivers do not deserve these protections. They should remember: nothing is ever too good for the working class.

There is much work still to do on workers’ rights – but for a moment at least – we should be celebrate. This is the Labour Party I joined and one that I am proud of. If the passing of this legislation does not motivate members to get out on the doors and start telling a more positive story about who’s interests we are working in – I am not sure what will.

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