‘Trade unions can help deliver the priorities of a Burnham government’

The recent announcement from First Secretary Louise Haigh that £90bn of public procurement contracts will be reweighted to favour better employment conditions, job creation and local economic impact going forward is an important early statement of intent from the Prime Minister’s government. It suggests to me that he is serious about rebalancing the economy and creating a new equilibrium in the relationship between capital and labour. 

Andy Burnham has been right to highlight the failure of neo-liberal economics over the last 40 years which has led to the low-productivity, race to the bottom economy we find ourselves in today. The trickle-down approach has manifestly failed, and we need a new model which builds upwards from the grassroots. That is why I strongly welcome the revised plans for public contracts set out last month which will compel companies to create local jobs which pay above the minimum wage, offer training, work experience and address skills gaps.

More broadly, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) recognises the Labour government’s commitment to use its £90 billion annual purchasing power as a tool for both economic growth, social cohesion and improved employment rights. It is vital that this leverage is aligned with local, regional and mayoral authority priorities alongside public sector procurement from the private sector which was nearly £400 billion in 2024/25.

READ MORE: Andy Burnham: ‘The rewiring of Britain has begun’

Labour’s landmark Employment Rights Act 2025 gradually comes into force both this year and next with a series of protections for workers, improvements to industrial relations and enhanced family friendly rights. 

The Act was driven by the New Deal for Workers, a campaign launched by trade unions and their members more than a decade ago. The CWU remains committed to the aims of that campaign which called for the reshaping of the economy and a new social settlement for the working people of the United Kingdom.

I acknowledge the strategic challenges faced by the Burnham government at present including the need to improve public services and finding consensus in weighty areas such as defence spending and reform of social care.

I also know many Labour ministers and MPs understand that workers have faced low-wage growth and a cost-of-living crisis while wealth inequality has risen exponentially for more than 15 years. It is well documented that many unscrupulous employers continue to squeeze workers’ rights through shoddy practices such as false self-employment.

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However, I am hopeful that the leadership of the new government wants to bring back a sense of balance to the workplace and empower trade unions to organise across the country, especially in the private sector. 

The Employment Rights Act 2025 has changed the lives of millions of working people, but we need to go further. UK workers have fewer collective rights than other European countries and union density in the private sector in the UK is less than 12%. 

The CWU will be urging Labour to introduce sectoral collective bargaining agreements across entire industries including the postal sector to level up our economy at the party conference next month. We want to see an end to bogus self-employment and gig-economy employment models and their replacement with fairly paid and secure jobs. 

We will continue to call for further reforms to employment rights which ensure that working people are empowered and strengthened in workplaces across the UK. Resetting the balance between capital and labour can be a catalyst for boosting economic growth, improving productivity, creating jobs and generating better social outcomes all of which the country so desperately needs. We look forward to working with Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his government to deliver these ambitions. 

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