This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
MPs were urged to get “on the right side of history” today as the Employment Rights Bill came up for its final Commons vote.
The TUC demanded backing for the Bill and said public support was overwhelming for its “common sense policies.”
MPs were expected to give the Bill its last Commons reading in a vote today after months of refinement and lobbying by business pressure groups.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The Employment Rights Bill is an opportunity to improve working lives across Britain.
“Common sense policies like banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, sick pay for all and day one protection from unfair dismissal are long overdue.
“Opponents of this Bill are using the same discredited arguments that were used against the introduction of the minimum wage in 1998. They were wrong then and they’re wrong now.
“I urge all MPs to be on the right side of history and to vote to make work pay.
“It’s time to turn the page on the low-pay, low-rights and low-productivity economy of the last 14 years. We cannot continue with the same broken status quo.”
TUC research also indicated broad support for the main provisions in the legislation.
A poll of 20,000 voters showed that 72 per cent backed the ban on zero-hours contracts and the right to a contract reflecting a worker’s regular hours.
Most Reform and Tory voters agreed, with only 15 per cent opposing.
And 74 per cent of voters including two-thirds of those supporting right-wing parties, agreed with giving all workers the right to statutory sick pay from the start of their employment.
Giving all workers protection from unfair dismissal from day one was supported by 73 per cent of voters, while a similar number agreed with making it easier for workers to have flexibility in their patterns and hours of work.
Labour MPs are keen to trumpet the Bill as a rare example of the government acting in a progressive direction.
“We’ve got to take this win,” one left MP told the Star.
Speaking in the Commons, Employment Minister Justin Madders outlined fresh amendments to the Bill covering trade union communications, access to workplaces and recognition processes.
They also include new powers for the new Fair Work Agency and an end to the requirement of unions to ballot every 10 years on maintaining a political fund.
