Left Foot Forward
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the development marked a "major victory for working people in every part of the country".
Despite Reform and Tory attempts to block it, Labour’s landmark Employment Rights Bill passed both Houses of Parliament yesterday, and is set to become law before Christmas, delivering the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the development marked a “major victory for working people in every part of the country”.
“We have just introduced the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation… Today our plans passed through parliament, and will soon become law,” he said.
The law will see an end to exploitative zero hour contracts, extend sick pay to all from day one, expand paternity, parental and bereavement leave, strengthen protections for pregnant women, whistle-blowers and victims of sexual harassment and also repeal Tory anti-union laws.
Despite opposition attempts to water down the bill, it has passed and been welcomed by trade unions.
Commenting on the Employment Rights Bill completing its parliamentary passage and paving the way for it to become law, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “This is an historic day and early Christmas present for working people across the country, and the trade unions who represent them.
“Banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, sick pay for all, expanding parental and bereavement leave, strengthening protections for pregnant women, whistleblowers and victims of sexual harassment, repealing Tory anti-union laws, ensuring union access to workplaces, establishing a social care fair pay agreement – these are just some of the watershed measures this Bill will now deliver.
“Unions and workers have long campaigned for these vital rights. Together, we have broken a decades long economic status quo defined by insecurity, weak rights and poor pay.
“Finally, working people will enjoy more security, better pay and dignity at work thanks to this Bill.
“It’s now vital that workers start feeling the benefits of this legislation in their lives as soon as possible.”
Unite union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said the bill must now be implemented “without any further dilution or delay”.
Graham said: “Finally the Employment Rights Bill has been passed. It now must be implemented without any further dilution or delay.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
‘The Employment Rights Bill is a massive step forward – but we’re not done delivering for working people’
Labour’s landmark Employment Rights legislation has now, finally, passed both Houses of Parliament. It cannot be underestimated how big a leap forward this will be for working people.
We have to mark and celebrate this moment, that has been years in the making. From the very start, this has been a partnership between the affiliated unions and the Labour Party – the Labour-union link at its very best.
These policies didn’t come from nowhere. They came up through the union movement, directly from workers and workplaces, and were painstakingly negotiated through TULO – and now they’re about to be made real, changing lives of workers in every part of the country. This would not have happened without a Labour Government – but it absolutely would not have happened without the collective voice of working people that unions bring to the heart of our Party.
There’s so much in the Employment Rights Bill that our movement can be proud of. The right for everyone to have a contract that reflects the hours they actually work, access to Statutory Sick Pay from the first day of illness, fairness for unions to give workers an effective voice in their workplace, so we can negotiate and bargain for better pay and conditions for workers, and draconian Tory laws, designed to tie trade unions up in knots, will be scrapped. Together, these changes will rebalance the world of work, putting power back into the hands of working people, where it belongs.
We have overcome so many obstacles to get here. The Tories and Reform stood shoulder to shoulder with Britain’s most unscrupulous employers to frustrate, delay and block this Bill at every turn. In the House of Lords, the Liberal Democrats sided with the Tories until the last moment. Even Green Party Peers voted with the Tories to water down the right to a guaranteed hours contract. It couldn’t be clearer – only Labour stands with working people.
I want to take a moment to offer particular thanks to some of those who helped get us here – including Angela Rayner, Jonathan Reynolds, Justin Madders and, more recently, Kate Dearden and Peter Kyle who have shepherded this Bill on its rollercoaster through Parliament – and the trade unionist MPs who have relentlessly made the case for this Bill in Parliament. My thanks also to everyone in the movement who has worked on this over years – including my predecessor as Chair of Labour Unions, Mick Whelan and Andy McDonald MP for the important work they both did. Most importantly, I want to thank every single union member who has played a part in this – from raising issues in their workplace, to shaping union policy – together we have changed the law of the land to benefit all workers.
But we’re not done yet. The way these rights will be implemented is yet to be determined – and we have to get the details right so they deliver – like on the right for everyone to have a guaranteed hours contract, and a meaningful right for unions to access workplaces and meet workers.
Of course the Employment Rights Bill is not the end of the New Deal for Working People either – there’s more groundbreaking policies to come, on Equal Pay, health and safety, surveillance and tech at work and more – and TULO will be working hard to make sure those are delivered in full.
The New Deal is the union-Labour link in action. Labour campaigned on it, working people voted for it, and together the movement delivered it. That’s a message of change we can take to the doorsteps with pride.
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