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Briefing Paper: The Employment Rights Bill – A big step forward, but bigger steps required.
By Lord John Hendy KC and Professor Keith Ewing.

Download briefing paper here.

Business & Trade Secretary Jonathon Reynolds will address the Labour PLP tonight at 6pm. October 7th

Here is what the website Politico are saying – taken from a Bloomberg report on Saturay (subscription only).

Talks are still ongoing despite what, by all accounts, will be a thick sheaf of paper going to the printers soon — and despite long wrangling and watering-down before Labour even won on July 4. Those involved expect lots of the thorny details to be kicked into the consultations that were promised as part of all this. One says next week’s bill will only be the “start of the process.”

The most contentious will be the promise to give workers rights from “Day One” on the job — particularly to sue for unfair dismissal, which currently has a two-year waiting period. Two people this week told Politico Playbook the talks are heading firmly toward effectively shortening that to about six to nine months. TBF, it’s less than the 12 months industry groups wanted. (When the FT reported a six-month period two weeks ago, a source told the BBC it was “jumping the gun.”)

The devil will be in the detail and the spin. Labour’s plan promised “basic rights of protection against unfair dismissal” on Day One, and one union official insists there will be something that shows this promise is being kept. The debate, they argue, will be over how it interacts with probation periods — these are what could last six to nine months, and the talks are looking at putting them into statute (compared to mere contract law, as now).  Unions will be anxious to iron out any loopholes in that.

Day One rights are “likely to be the totemic issue some unions claim betrayal on,” a second union official predicts. “Some initial rights like a fair process may be the solution, which is a pragmatic choice, but Labour will be under pressure.”

Despite this, people from union and business land — who have found sitting next to each other in meetings a novel experience — insist the talks have been broadly positive. There is broad agreement on the pledge to extend eligibility for statutory sick pay. But one business leader says firms are seeking a “quid pro quo” in the Oct. 30 budget, such as tax breaks for firms that give employees access to private dentistry, physio or GP services. Best of luck with that.

The pledge to ban “exploitative” zero-hour contracts (no longer all zero-hour contracts) could take the form of letting workers request a more stable contract once they have 12 weeks of service to base their hours on. As previously reported, it’ll be harder for firms to reject requests for flexible working (like hours “compressed” into a four-day week) … while the “right to switch off” will be in a code rather than directly written into the bill. Expect plenty of chatter about the details in the days ahead.