Amid growing fears the legislation could be diluted, leaders said it is vital to improve England’s economy.
After Angela Rayner resigned her post Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, issued a warning to the government saying the workers’ rights bill should still be prioritised.
The leader of one of the UK’s biggest trade unions said protecting the rights of British workers is a central part of Labour’s election platform and that MPs should not, by any means, push the legislation to the bottom of their agenda.
While speaking to the BBC, Graham said she hopes Labour don’t plan on slowing the progress of the bill ‘or indeed scrapping some parts of it altogether.’
She added: ‘You don’t have to be a bad employer to be prosperous. And so therefore, for me, trade unions are the equaliser.
‘I don’t accept that trade unions and putting up wages is bad for the economy. It’s good for the economy.’
In similar vein, Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, has also expressed concerns the government is no longer fully committed to implementing the bill in its current form. She remarked that the recent cabinet re-shuffle ‘doesn’t send out a very good message that the people who were absolutely committed to driving through the employment rights bill are no longer doing those jobs’.
Both union leaders are right to be apprehensive. Previously the bill has been altered during its passing through parliament.
When the legislation was first proposed in October 2024 ministers stood firm on protecting workers from unfair dismal, which included axing exploitative zero-hours contracts and the fire and rehire practice. However, when the bill was being debated in the House of Commons, MPs decided to allow for some cases of fire and rehire on the basis that a business would collapse without it.
Since Starmer’s cabinet shake-up took place some government sources have reassured that the bill will continue as planned, though no official statement has been released.
At the beginning of this week, the annual TUC conference was held in Brighton – an event that gathers all UK policymakers from trade unions together. Here, Paul Nowak, general secretary of TUC, encouraged Labour to: ‘Deliver the manifesto on which you won a huge majority last July. Deliver good jobs, decent public services and better living standards in every corner of the country. Deliver the change people voted for. And show working-class communities whose side you are on.’
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