Queen’s Speech: Broken promise on employment bill will see “bad bosses celebrating”

The TUC yesterday accused the government of “turning its back” on working people after ministers failed to include an employment bill in the Queen’s Speech.

• Vital rights ministers had promised like default flexible working, fair tips and pregnancy discrimination protections risk being ditched “for good” 
• New seafarer minimum wage plans are “unworkable” and won’t prevent a repeat of P&O, warns union body 

The TUC has accused the government of “turning its back” on working people after ministers failed to include an employment bill in the Queen’s Speech. 

The union body said that the government’s broken promise to boost workers’ rights will see “bad bosses celebrating”. 

In 2019, the government announced it would bring forward a new employment bill to improve people’s rights at work, but despite committing to the bill on at least 20 occasions, ministers have shelved the legislation.  

Commenting on the decision to exclude an employment bill from yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The prime minister promised to make Britain the best place in the world to work. But he has turned his back on working people. 

“Today, bad bosses up and down the country will be celebrating. 

“No employment bill means vital rights that ministers had promised – like default flexible working, fair tips and protection from pregnancy discrimination – risk being ditched for good. 

“And it means no action on the scourge of insecure work and ending exploitative practices like zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire. 

“After the P&O scandal, dragging our outdated labour laws into the 21st century has never been more urgent. 

“But by shelving the employment bill, ministers have sent a signal that they are happy for rogue employers to ride roughshod over workers’ rights. 

“Enough is enough. This is a government that just doesn’t get it – from the cost of living emergency to the insecure work epidemic.  

“People can’t wait for greater rights and security at work – they need it now.” 

On the seafarer minimum wage enforcement plans, O’Grady added: “This proposal is feeble and likely unworkable. The government has done nothing to tackle the most flagrant labour abuse in years by  P&O.  

“Only stronger employment legislation that boosts worker protections and stops companies firing on the spot will prevent another P&O-type scandal.” 

The TUC says that the following policies were all promised within an employment bill, and are now risk being ditched altogether: 

• Ensure that tips go to workers in full. 
• Introduce a new right for all workers to request a more predictable contract. 
• Create a new single enforcement body offering greater protections for workers. 
• Extend redundancy protections to prevent pregnancy and maternity discrimination. 
• Make flexible working the default unless employers have good reason not to. 
• Allow parents to take extended paid leave for neonatal care. 
• Introduce a new legal entitlement to one week’s leave for unpaid carers. 

In addition, the government consulted on reasonable notice period for shifts allocated and cancelled, and payments for cancelled shifts, which the TUC points out the government has “since gone quiet on.” 

The union body also highlights that the government promise to make employers responsible for preventing sexual harassment risks falling by the wayside without the employment bill, as the policy needs primary legislation to carry it forward.

In the notes to the 2019 Queen’s Speech, the government said it would bring forward the employment bill to:  

• Protect and enhance workers’ rights as the UK leaves the EU, making Britain the best place in the world to work.  
• Promote fairness in the workplace, striking the right balance between the flexibility that the economy needs and the security that workers deserve.  
• Strengthen workers’ ability to get redress for poor treatment by creating a new, single enforcement body.  
• Offer greater protections for workers by prioritising fairness in the workplace, and introducing better support for working families.  
• Build on existing employment law with measures that protect those in low-paid work and the gig economy. 

In the 2019 Conservative manifesto, the following promises were made on employment rights:  

• We will create a single enforcement body and crack down on any employer abusing employment law, whether by taking workers’ tips or refusing them sick pay.  
• We will ensure that workers have the right to request a more predictable contract and other reasonable protections. 
• We will encourage flexible working and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to.  
• We have reformed redundancy law so companies cannot discriminate against women immediately after returning from maternity leave.  
• We will legislate to allow parents to take extended leave for neonatal care, to support those new mothers and fathers who need it during the most vulnerable and stressful days of their lives.  
• We will look at ways to make it easier for fathers to take paternity leave.  
• We will extend the entitlement to leave for unpaid carers, the majority of whom are women, to a week. 

The UK has one of the best workers’ rights records in the world, says UK Government

The UK has one of the best workers’ rights records in the world. As a result of government action, there are now more employees on the payroll than ever before, as we continue to support workers and build a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy.

The government has protected and enhanced workers’ rights by:

1. Making sure 2.5 million people received a pay rise in April by raising the minimum and living wage. The largest ever cash increase to the National Living Wage will put over £1000 a year into a full-time workers’ pay packet, helping to ease cost of living pressures. We’re helping younger people too, by lifting the minimum wages for under-23s and apprentices.
2. Leading the world with one of the highest minimum wages in the world – more generous than those in similar economies such as France, Germany and Japan.
3. Holding UK businesses to account, ensuring employees are getting what they are owed. In December we named and shamed 208 employers who had failed to pay the minimum wage – taking the total number of employers named since 2014 to around 2,500. We made sure these companies paid back their employees and paid the price with hefty fines for law breakers. We have also quadrupled the maximum fine for employers who treat their workers badly.
4. Giving the lowest paid in society more control over when and where they work. The government just this week announced it will extend the ban on using exclusivity clauses to contracts where a worker’s guaranteed weekly income is below the Lower Earnings Limit, which is currently £123 a week. This ensures an estimated 1.5 million people have the option to pick up extra work if they want to, further increasing flexibility.
5. Tackling appalling business practices, such as P&O Ferries firing their employees without consultation. Reporting them to the insolvency service and taking an active role in ensuring they treat their workers fairly, we also recently committed to producing a statutory code on fire and rehire practices to strengthen the rights of all employees. This will clamp down on controversial tactics used by employers who fail to engage in meaningful consultations with employees before making changes to their contracts.
6. Closing a loophole which sees agency workers employed on cheaper rates than permanent workers.
7. Recognising the importance of flexible working arrangements by announcing a wide-ranging package of measures to help give employees more flexible working options in the future, including seeking views on making flexible working the default unless employers have good reason not to.
8. Offering generous leave entitlements, continuing with our aim to make the UK the best place in the world to live and work. Workers get over 5 weeks of annual leave and a year of maternity leave, while the EU minimum for maternity leave is just 14 weeks.
9. As part of this, we also brought into force a world first, giving parents a new legal right to 2 week’s paid bereavement leave for those who suffer the devastating loss of a child, irrespective of how long they have worked for their employer.
10. Giving all workers the right to receive a statement of their rights from day one.
11. Supporting workers throughout the pandemic, taking steps to protect the earnings of workers through furlough, including a new law to make sure furloughed employees who were made redundant received full redundancy payments.
12. And of course, all this action to support workers’ rights has come alongside the government’s unprecedented £9bn package to support families with the cost of living, including a £150 council tax rebate, and a £200 energy bill discount to cut energy bills for the vast majority of households.

Scottish Secretary responds to Queen’s Speech

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “This is a Queen’s Speech which delivers for Scotland and the whole of the UK.

“Measures in the Queen’s Speech will help us grow our economy, so we can continue to recover from the pandemic, tackle the rising cost of living and level up across the country.

“We will bring in a range of measures to make our country safer, from tackling state-sponsored espionage, to cracking down on modern slavery.

“We will show leadership with a series of ambitious reforms which will support citizens across the United Kingdom.

“We will continue to maximise the benefits of Brexit with legislation to cement our fantastic trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, and remove outdated EU laws. Outside of the EU, the UK will continue to prosper and thrive.”