The Financial Times reported that UK business groups have warned that the Government’s workers’ rights bill “will have deeply damaging implications” for economic growth, and have urged peers to amend the legislation to wreck the Bill in the House of Lords.
They called on peers to “fully scrutinise and improve this legislation” to ensure it was both pro-business and pro-worker and “to prevent unnecessary harm to employment and growth.”
The legislation is due to enter committee stage in the House of Lords later this month when peers will have an opportunity to put forward and vote on amendments. The Bill is expected to become law in July this year.
Lord John Hendy KC, who is vice president of the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom, has submitted amendments to strengthen the already inadequate Employment Rights Bill in favour of workers and trade unions said that the business proposals emanated from the Conservative Party and were “reruns of Tory amendments submitted in the House of Commons that were roundly defeated.”
“Once again they are using the tedious and well-worn arguments about improvements to workers’ and union rights, alleging that they will cost the economy. This argument has no evidential basis. On the contrary, research shows that economies with strong workers’ rights are far more successful than economies like the UK’s with one of the weakest workers’ rights regimes in Europe. Furthermore, Labour’s quite mild proposals are popular with workers and voters.”
“The Government has already watered down the original intention of this package of workers’ rights, now the Tories are trying to push Labour back further.”
“The Government must reject these amendments to the Bill promoted by the corporate sector – indeed the Campaign wants to see major improvements to strengthen the Bill in favour of working people and their unions.”
Read more on this in the Morning Star