Labour’s general election manifesto said the government would introduce its workers’ rights package within its first 100 days. On Thursday, on day 97, it fulfilled that promise. Parliament will debate the newly published employment rights bill on Monday week. Even so, this is only one stage in a longer workplace reform journey taking more than one parliamentary session. Many of the government’s decisions about changes to the world of work remain to be nailed down and are not part of the bill at all.
It is easy to caricature the new legislation, and too many are doing so. The Conservatives dismiss it all as rewards to Labour’s trade union paymasters. But the Unite union says the plan is full of holes. The Federation of Small Businesses says the plans are rushed and chaotic. But the British Chambers of Commerce says the government is listening and responsive. The Daily Mail reports business fury. A leading legal publication says the package strikes positive notes with lawyers.
This can all sometimes lead to a sterile, zero-sum debate on work issues. But the larger truth is that this is a bill about change. Employment law has not kept pace with developments in the worlds of work, family and business. The reality is that a fresh approach, centred on the work issues of today and tomorrow rather than those of the past, is long overdue.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, the employment rights bill is multiple different things, not one simple one. The bill is large and wide-ranging. It comes in six discrete sections, contains 119 different clauses and runs to 158 pages. Most of it is about terms and conditions for individual employees, and the obligations that employers will have to follow. The bill also creates a Fair Work Agency to enforce it. Relatively little of it is actually about the law on trade unions at all, though you might not think so to listen to the political debate.
The most important rights in the bill belong to individual workers, and especially to new hires and to families. These include unfair dismissal protection from day one, along with day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave rights. Sick pay will apply from day one as well. Workers on zero-hours contracts will gain guaranteed hours if they want them. Fire and rehire on worse terms will be banned. Flexible working will be a default right.
The bill does not set all these rights in stone, however. A statutory probation period for new hires is still being discussed, during which greater flexibility would apply. Fire-and-rehire prohibitions may not be applied to businesses at risk of collapse. Small businesses, some of which do not have HR departments to navigate these rules, are looking for a more adaptable approach too. It is better to get these issues right than to rush into them.
Some gaps remain. These include the right to switch off outside working hours, as well as a requirement for large employers to report on equalities pay gaps. Some unions want to roll back more of the restrictive legislation from the Conservative years. The larger reality, though, is that it is important that workforces should be well paid and treated fairly. This matters in terms of economic and employment justice, but also in helping make businesses more innovative and more productive. On this, at least, the Labour government’s approach is in line with the public mood – and rightly so.