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Simon Lightwood MP: “this Government is calling time on the Tories’ scorched earth approach to industrial relations”
This week, the Labour government has delivered on yet another manifesto commitment and brought forward our new Employment Rights bill.
This revolutionary Bill will see the biggest upgrade in employment rights for a generation, marking a new era that is resolutely pro-worker and pro-business.
In contrast, the Tories have been missing in action for years. Their last industrial strategy was put forward back in 2017 - four Prime Ministers ago!
Since then, successive Conservative governments preferred to bury their heads in the sand on this issue, hammering our already overstretched and underfunded public services.
Our new Labour Government will never let us go back to those days.
In the first 100 days of the new government, we have already forged new deals with the trade unions to end strikes in our NHS and on our railways, by getting around the table and challenging the issues head-on. Our new Employment Rights Bill will promote cooperation between the trade unions, business and government.
For years, our economy has been blighted by low pay and insecure work.
With this Bill, we will give workers fundamental rights from day one of employment - including protection from unfair dismissal, entitlement to Paternity Leave and unpaid Parental Leave.
This will give over 9 million people access to unfair dismissal rights. An extra 1.5 million parents will also benefit from access to parental leave.
Our Labour Government wants everyone to feel safe and supported at work. This is why we will increase protections from sexual harassment, introduce Equality Menopause Action Plans and strengthen rights for pregnant workers.
To build a modern economy focused on growth we need to take workers with us - giving them the flexibility to be able to balance work with their private lives.
To fix the foundations of our economy we need to give workers the security in work that they deserve.
That is why, through this Bill, we will finally ban exploitative zero-hours contacts and abolish the scourge of fire and rehire.
Tory chaos left industrial relations at an all-time low. These changes will improve employment security, with workers' rights fit for a modern economy.
Over the last 14 years wages have stagnated, leaving people across Wakefield and Rothwell worse off as prices and household bills skyrocketed.
In contrast, our government is turning the corner on low wages, launching our plan to make work pay.
For too long, workers in our communities have been let down by successive Conservative Governments who think that growth has to come at the expense of workers' rights.
This comprehensive plan will raise the floor on workplace rights, delivering a stronger, fairer and brighter future for the world of work in the UK.
These measures will also benefit business by helping to keep people in work and level the playing field across the employment landscape.
This is a new era of workers' rights, delivering for our communities and creating rights fit for a modern economy and a modern UK. I am immensely proud to support it.