At his address to TUC Congress on Tuesday (15 September 2020), leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer urged the government to work with the Labour Party, trade unions and employers to develop a “national plan” that aims to prevent mass unemployment and protect workers’ pay and job security.

“We are one family; one movement,” he said. “Labour and the trade union movement need to stand together like never before to show people we’ve got their backs and their futures too.”

Congratulating the labour movement on its extraordinary success in fighting for a furlough scheme that he described as a “life raft for seven million people”, Starmer promised to work closely with the trade unions over the coming years.

In our Manifesto for Labour Law, the Institute of Employment Rights developed a new framework of employment rights that was adopted almost in its entirety by the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Our policy proposals were built upon a foundation of a democratised economy, in which workers had a voice at work through their trade unions; and in Parliament through a new Minister of Labour.

We welcome Keir Starmer’s preservation of the role of Minister for Employment Rights and Protections – now held by Andy McDonald MP – and his vow to continue the close relationship with trade unions, which – evidence has shown – is in the best interests of working people.

In the short-term, we believe that the immediate implementation of five key policies from our Manifesto for Labour Law will help the UK to weather the storm of the Covid-19 pandemic.

1. Full-wage sick pay for those isolating due to Covid-19

The best many workers can hope for if they are not able to work due to the Coronavirus is £95.85 per week in Statutory Sick Pay. As trade unions have repeatedly pointed out throughout the pandemic, this paltry sum risks not only financial hardship for millions of low-paid workers, but the unnecessary continuation of a public health crisis. Workers are being put in a position where they are forced to choose between paying the bills and protecting the health of their colleagues.

In Wales, care workers have already been promised their full wage as sick pay if they are isolating due to Covid-19. This common-sense approach should be rolled out across the UK, helping to stem the spread of the virus while keeping our lowest-paid workers afloat.

This proposal was put forth in our 2016 Manifesto for Labour Law, years before the transition of Covid-19 into humans, but today’s pandemic has exposed its necessity. Workers who are not able to take time off when they are ill will often feel forced to continue working, presenting a health and safety risk both to them and their colleagues.

An inadequate framework of employment law has caused this situation and its reform will resolve it.

2. Improved trade union access to the workplace

As Starmer said himself, it is the work of trade unions that has protected the livelihoods of millions of people and helped to improve workplace safety during this pandemic. “Let’s face it,” he told Congress. “If it had been just down to the government, it would have been a case of sink or swim.”

But restrictive trade union laws have prevented the movement from being able to support workers across the UK. Current legislation presents multiple barriers to trade unions representing their own members in the workplace, gaining recognition by employers, balloting their members, and taking industrial action.

This pandemic has shone a light on the risks these restrictions place on the shoulders of workers. New research in the US has confirmed the association between union strength and safety in the workplace. Professor Aaron Sojourner and co-author Jooyoung Yang found that unionised workplaces were 30% more likely to face an inspection for a health or safety violation – an effect they linked to the confidence of staff members to speak up about dangerous conditions. This confidence is driven by the fact organised workers are more likely to be aware of their rights, supported to file complaints, and feel secure in the knowledge their union will protect them from employer retailiation.

“The health and safety of workers is always a concern, but the current pandemic makes the issue more important than ever, especially for essential workers in health care, retail and child care centers and schools. But beyond them, all workers – including those with typically safe office jobs – are at increased risk of catching the coronavirus,” Professor Sojourner said.

This proposal has also been a key part of the IER’s Manifesto for Labour Law since 2016.

3. Adequate funding for the HSE

On Sunday 10 May 2020, with the pandemic still at its peak, Boris Johnson said workers would be “actively encouraged” to return to their workplaces, which he vowed to make “Covid-19 secure” through the publication of guidance to employers. These new health and safety rules, he said, would be enforced via “spot checks” by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

“Let me add a few observations from the real world of data and evidence to the government’s fantasies of responsible Covid-secure workplaces overseen by a protective regulatory agency,” Professor Steve Tombs wrote in an IER feature at the time.

“The statistically average employer can expect to see an inspector once every 275 years.”

Indeed, funding for the HSE has fallen by £104m over the last ten years, from £239 million in 2009-10 to £135m in 2017-18. As a result, total staffing figures have dropped by 1,201 (from 3,702 to 2,501) and the number of inspectors has sunk to 978 (from 1,495). Between them, these inspectors must “enforce” new health and safety rules across 5.5m employers – that’s 5,624 inspections each. I wonder how they’re getting on.

Although Johnson promised an extra £14m in funding to support this work, this still left a shortfall so drastic that HSE workers in the Prospect union reported the money would be spent on call centres used to conduct “remote” inspections. Besides, health and safety requirements for HSE’s own staff meant they were not able to physically enter workplaces in case they were not, in fact, “Covid-19 secure”.

Even if we had the best health and safety laws in the world – and we do not – they become meaningless without proper enforcement. The HSE must be adequately funded to ensure the safety of workplaces.

4. Improved protections for whistleblowers

Since the start of the pandemic, concerns have been raised about the effective “gagging” of frontline workers – especially in the NHS. Medical journal, The Lancet, reported as early as April that it had been inundated with messages from healthcare staff claiming to have been “bullied” and threatened with disciplinary action if they raised concerns about safety at work. The Guardian heard of threatening emails, employer surveillance of staff members’ social media channels, and disciplinary action being taken against doctors and nurses who spoke publicly about the Coronavirus.

In the midst of a national crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, it is essential that timely and accurate information is made available, and that staff do not feel “gagged” from speaking out about dangerous conditions at work, or matters of importance to public health.

This is not the first time we have seen shocking issues arise out of the intimidation of whistleblowers. Scandals involving the elderly abuse in care homes and widespread sexual harassment in the workplace have also been at the centre of whistleblowing stories in the recent past.

We must take a serious look at how this complex part of law can be improved to ensure that employers are no longer able to hide deadly secrets. In our Manifesto for Labour Law, the IER recommended that a specialist Commission is established to analyse the problems with whistleblower protections and aim to resolve them.

5. Uphold international law

We have all heard by now the Conservative Party’s intention to breach international law by acting in contravention of the Withdrawal Agreement, touted as an “oven-ready” deal just nine months ago. The government has been lambasted not only by UK legal experts and policymakers but by potential trade partners abroad for failing to uphold the rule of law.

Unfortunately, if the government goes ahead with its controversial Internal Markets Bill, this will not be the first time the UK has breached its international obligations. The IER has long been reporting on this country’s failure to meet International Labour Organisation standards for working life, which the UK has ratified. These breaches are particularly concentrated around the right of trade unionists to take collective action.

We continue to recommend that the government – and the Labour Party – follows the letter of the law in this regard.

Looking to the future

These immediate concerns should not be the end of the story. The pandemic has revealed the urgent need for a new framework of labour law, which should support the one element of British industrial concerns that has worked effectively throughout the year – the trade union movement.

Not only did trade unions fight for financial support schemes for workers forced to isolate, they went the extra mile to ensure that they were protected not only their own members but society as a whole. The firefighters’ union, FBU, used the strength of their existing collective bargaining structures to quickly strategise with employers as to how their resources could be best put to use to fight the pandemic. The agreement – made in the earliest stages of the pandemic – had the dual purpose of protecting firefighters’ safety while redeploying them to support the movement of bodies, the driving of ambulances and the training of care workers in the proper use of PPE. Thousands of firefighters volunteered for these extra duties in the first four months of the pandemic.

This is just one example of the strength that comes from strong collective bargaining arrangements that bring workers and their employers together to plan for the future. The IER recommends that such a model is carried forward into the rest of the economy, with Bargaining Councils created at the head of every industry on which an equal number of workers’ and employers’ representatives should sit.

These Councils should be supported by bargaining arrangements made in each workplace, and should communicate with a new Ministry of Labour. This would provide the infrastructure for every worker to have their voice heard, and provide an arena in which creative and democratic solutions can be sought for the challenges we face. Covid-19 is just one of several major disruptions to life as we know it – it precedes the exit of the UK from the European Union, the creation of new international Free Trade Agreements, the advancement of technologies that will result in job losses, and the ever-encroaching peril of climate change.

We pulled together to get through this pandemic and the IER believes we should find ways to pull together in the years ahead through the establishment of collective bargaining arrangements put forth in our Manifesto for Labour Law.