Last week I joined other trade unionists at the annual TUC Congress in Brighton.
It came in the aftermath of Angela Rayner’s resignation from the government and a lot of the talk in the media had been about how one of the chief architects of the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) could potentially jeopardise the future of the bill.
But this isn’t the first threat to the ERB. We should remember that the Tories, Reform and much of the right-wing press have been critical of the bill since Labour came to power, with Tory peers trying to delay and water down the bill during its passage through the Lords. And of course a powerful employer’s lobby trying to derail it.
And yes, this is a risk for the Labour Westminster government as they seek to improve the lives of working people while simultaneously brining in a new team of ministers to complete the bill.
I’ve always been clear that this is a generational opportunity to improve the lives of all working people. It will benefit workers and the economy and good employers have nothing to fear from it.
And that’s why, in the wake of this uncertainty, I met with ministers to make it absolutely clear that the ERB must be implemented in full and as fast as possible.
Public and private assurances have been given and we have now seen that the Tory amendments from the House of Lords will be reversed.
But nothing is ever certain until we see it implemented in law. So I will ensure that we continue to hold the government to account. And we will keep up the fight to stop vested interests from trying to frustrate and block the improvements to basic fairness at work.
The article Opinion: I’ll make sure improving workers’ lives stays on track first appeared on the UNISON National site.
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