
Cheltenham has a special place in the history of workers’ rights in this country. It was here in 1984 that workers at GCHQ had their rights to join a trade union taken away by Thatcher’s Tory government – subsequently restored in 1997 by Labour under Tony Blair. During the trade union ban the TUC held an annual march in Cheltenham in support of worker’s rights. And it was here in January 2024 that the TUC held a national march on the 40th anniversary of the ban and in favour of improving rights at work.
Labour’s General Election manifesto included improvements to rights at work, and the Labour government is fulfilling that promise with the Employment Rights Bill currently going through Parliament.
This is a comprehensive bill which, once implemented, will represent the biggest upgrade in employment rights for a generation. It will raise the minimum floor of employment rights, giving the British public the prosperity, security and dignity that everyone in Britain needs and deserves at work.
What does the Bill do?
Key measures (there are many more) are to:
- ban exploitative zero hours contracts
- end ‘fire and rehire’ and ‘fire and replace’ practices
- ensure family friendly rights like Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental leave are available from ‘Day 1’ of employment
- strengthen employers’ duty to prevent sexual harassment of their employees
- improve access to Statutory Sick Pay by removing the Lower Earnings Limit and removing the waiting period
- give trade unions greater freedom to organise, represent and negotiate on behalf of their workers
It will also bring in national pay bodies for two really important groups of workers
- school support staff and
- adult social care workers.
Given their history, it’s not surprising that the Tories voted against the Bill when it first came to Parliament in October, and they’ve spent the last few months trying to water it down, by trying to deny these new rights to people who work for ‘small’ companies of less than 500 workers – (an odd definition of ‘small’!). Reform UK, despite their claim to speak for the workers, voted against the Bill too.
We’re pleased that the LibDems support the Bill, although Max Wilkinson managed to miss the first vote, so let’s hope he’ll be there when it comes back to Parliament for the final vote
So, when you next hear someone claiming that politicians don’t keep their promises, think about how Labour is improving your rights at work.
Mike Farmer
Secretary, Cheltenham Labour Party