Employment Rights Bill: A step forward for workers but stops short of making work pay

Unite has welcomed positives from the bill such new individual rights and cancelling unjust laws like the Minimum Service Levels Act, but has also flagged issues such as the government’s failure to ban zero hours contracts and ‘fire and rehire’.

Unite is also concerned about watering down of rules allowing workers to have access to trade unions. Unite believes that the single best way to ensure that work pays more fairly is by expanding collective bargaining.

Unions act as a force for good to push up wages. This in turn boosts the economy as workers spend money in their local communities, they don’t stash it away in tax havens. Unite’s research shows that restoring collective bargaining coverage to the same levels as 1996 would lead to a 2.8 per cent rise in GDP.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:

“This Bill is without doubt a significant step forward for workers but stops short of making work pay.

The end to draconian laws like Minimum Service Levels and the introduction of new individual rights, for example on bereavement leave, will be beneficial. But the bill still ties itself up in knots trying to avoid what was promised. Failure to end fire a rehire and zero hours contracts once and for all will leave more holes than Swiss cheese that hostile employers will use.

The Bill also fails to give workers the sort of meaningful rights to access a union for pay bargaining that would put more money in their pockets and, in turn, would aid growth.

Unite will continue to make the workers’ voice heard as we push for improvements to the legislation as the Bill goes through parliament.”