LABOUR’S NEW DEAL FOR WORK
»» Immediate increase to minimum wage vow »» Party’ s proposals are branded a ‘game changer’
LABOUR is to make a big “new deal” offer for workers that would see wages, job security and equality improve in the first 100 days of a Starmer government.
Deputy Leader Angela Rayner will open Labour’s Party Conference in Brighton today with a promise to legislate for Fair Pay Agreements, starting in the social care sector which bore the burden of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under Fair Pay Agreements, which run in other countries, worker and employers representatives are brought together by the government to agree minimum pay, terms and conditions.
Other measures from a Labour government would include an immediate minimum wage increase to at least £10 per hour, the creation of a single status of “worker” for all but the genuinely self-employed, the right to flexible working for all workers from day one and a ban on zero-hour contracts.
Rayner will tell the conference: “It will be the driving mission of the next Labour government to end the poverty wages and insecure work that blights millions of lives and is holding back our economy. Labour will make Britain work for working people.
“Work should provide not just a proper wage that people can raise a family on, but dignity, flexibility and security. Better pay and more secure work is good for workers, good for businesses and good for the economy.
Labour will deliver a New Deal for working people so they get a fair share of the wealth they create, and within the first 100 days of the next Labour government we will sign this New Deal for Working People into law.” Rayner will also say that Labour would end the trend of so-called “fire and rehire”, which has sparked a series of disputes amid complaints by unions that it is being used by employers to cut pay and conditions. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the move would be a “game-changer” for millions of working families. She said: “Many of the key workers who got us through this crisis – including our dedicated care staff – are on poverty wages and insecure contracts.
“Giving workers and their unions more power to bargain collectively is the best way to improve pay and working conditions across Britain.
“These much-needed proposals are about making sure that hard work pays off for everyone.”
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Everyone knows the social care system is broken with care workers treated abysmally. These proposals would bring much-needed standards and union representation to hundreds of thousands of care workers.”
Manuel Cortes, Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association general secretary, said: “These are the kind of bread-and-butter policies that will win Labour the next election.”