Dear members
Many of you will have read the news that the Employment Rights Bill (2024) has started its journey through Parliament. GMB wanted to provide you with some context and details to help you understand what is to be expected.
After several years of pressure from GMB, and our sister unions, we can share that the Labour Government will introduce measures that strengthen rights in the workplace. The Employment Rights Bill was published on 10th October by the Government. The contents, based on the New Deal for Working People policy document, will improve individual and collective employment rights, and will abolish some anti-union legislation.
GMB will push to ensure that the Labour Government delivers the full New Deal for working people, better protecting members against poor employers.
An example of how vulnerable worker’s lives will be materially improved is fixing the unequal access to sick pay. The expected reforms to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will benefit 8 million workers. GMB has campaigned for Statutory Sick Pay to be made available from day one of an illness, presently a quarter of workers currently have to wait until their fourth day of sickness to receive Statutory Sick Pay. And more than a million workers get no Statutory Sick Pay because they earn less than £123 per week.
Below I have included some quotes and background to the changes for any branch communications and newsletters, or if the issue is raised in branch meetings, so that stewards and members are kept informed:
On the new legislation:
Gary Smith, GMB General Secretary, said:
“This is a significant and groundbreaking first step to giving workers the rights they’ve been denied for so long. Fourteen years of Conservative rule has seen squeezed pay packets and attacks on working people and their unions; this bill is hugely welcome.
“Fair Pay Agreements for carers, reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, repealing anti-union legislation and a raft of other rights for workers will make a huge difference to the lives of GMB members and are popular across the country.
“But there is long way to go. The Government won a huge mandate for the New Deal, now they must make sure unions and workers are front and centre of the detailed discussions needed to deliver it. The legislation must be watertight and without loopholes that could be used by those wanting to delay the rights workers so desperately need.”
Warren Kenny, GMB London Regional Secretary, said:
“We are not out the woods when it comes to improving the working lives of millions of people, and we know the Government will come under pressure to waterdown what, for most, are logical changes to unjust employment practices. Our role as a union is to ensure that work is remunirated fairly and that no one should suffer in the workplace.
“While we do not believe that the Employment Rights Bill will solve every issue, it is certainly true to state it is a step in the right direction.
“I would like to thank members whose voices were heard loudly throughout the policy-making process. Sadly, several members had to feed into the process by recounting their own experiences of poor employment practices. Let me be clear though, good employers have nothing to fear by these changes, only those who seek to attack the terms and conditions of members do.”
Background to the Employment Rights Bill:
This past week legislation has been introduced in Parliament to upgrade workers’ rights across the UK, tackling poor working conditions and benefitting workers. The Employment Rights Bill will end exploitative zero-hour contracts and unscrupulous fire and rehire practices, while establishing rights to bereavement and parental leave from day one.
Ministers have unveiled the Employment Rights Bill, introduced within 100 days of the new Government coming to office, to help deliver economic security and growth to businesses, workers and communities across the UK.
- Getting the labour market moving again is essential to economic growth with one in five UK businesses, with more than 10 employees, reporting staff shortages. Flexibility, for workers and businesses alike, is key to answering this challenge and is at the heart of the legislation to upgrade the law to ensure it is fit for modern life and a modern economy.
- The existing two-year qualifying period for protections from unfair dismissal will be removed, delivering on a GMB supported commitment to ensure that all workers have a right to these protections from day one on the job.
- The government will also consult on a new statutory probation period for companies’ new hires. This will allow for an assessment of an employee’s suitability to a role as well as reassuring workers that they have rights from day one, enabling businesses to take chances on hires while giving more people confidence to re-enter the job market or change careers, improving their living standards.
- The bill will bring forward 28 individual employment reforms, from ending exploitative zero hours contracts and fire and rehire practices to establishing day one rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave for millions of workers. Statutory sick pay will also be strengthened, removing the lower earnings limit for all workers and cutting out the waiting period before sick pay kicks in.
- Accompanying this will be measures to help make the workplace more compatible with people’s lives, with flexible working made the default where practical. Large employers will also be required to create action plans on addressing gender pay gaps and supporting workers through the menopause, and protections against dismissal will be strengthened for pregnant women and new mothers. This is all with the intention of keeping people in work for longer, reducing recruitment costs for employers by increasing staff retention and helping the economy grow.
- A new Fair Work Agency bringing together existing enforcement bodies will also be established to enforce rights such as holiday pay and support employers looking for guidance on how to comply with the law.
Next Steps
- Alongside the legislation, a ‘Next Steps’ document for the Make Work Pay Plan has been published outlining the Government’s vision and long-term plans and setting out the ambitions for the plan to grow the economy, raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all.
- The legislation will level the playing field where all parties understand what is required of them and good employers aren’t undercut by bad ones.
- Ending one-sided flexibility. The bill will end exploitative zero hours contracts, following research that shows 84% of zero hours workers would rather have guaranteed hours. They, along with those on low hours contracts, will now have the right to a guaranteed hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period, giving them security of earnings whilst allowing people to remain on zero hours contracts where they prefer to. According to TUC research nearly two thirds of managers (64%) believe ending zero hours contracts would have a positive impact on their business.
- Ending unscrupulous employment practices is finally a priority for a UK government and none more so than shutting down the loopholes that allow bullying fire and rehire practices from continuing. The Government is closing these loopholes and putting in place measures to give greater protections against unfair dismissal from day one, ensuring that the feeling of security at work is no longer a luxury for the privileged few.
- This bill turns the page on the previously ineffective, costly and conflicting approach to dealing with industrial relations that has brought so much unnecessary disruption of late. It repeals the anti-union legislation put in place by the previous administration, including the Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Act legislation that failed to prevent a single day of industrial action while in force, and only acted to inflame genuine industrial concerns.
The UK Government will:
- Change the law to make flexible working the default for all, unless the employer can prove it’s unreasonable.
- Set a clear standard for employers by establishing a new right to bereavement leave, with the entitlement sculpted with the needs of employees and the concerns of employers at the forefront.
- Deliver stronger protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work including protection from dismissal whilst pregnant, on maternity leave and within six months of returning to work.
- Tackle low pay by accounting for cost of living when setting the Minimum Wage and remove discriminatory age bands, a GMB campaign led by our young members over several years.
- Establish a new Fair Work Agency that will bring together different Government enforcement bodies, enforce holiday pay for the first time and strengthen statutory sick pay. It will create a stronger, recognisable single organisation that people know where to go for help – with better support for employers who want to comply with the law and tough action on the minority who deliberately flout it.
Subject to consultations, more is due:
- A Right to Switch Off, preventing employees from being contacted out of hours, except in exceptional circumstances, to allow them the rest and get the recuperation they need to give 100% during their shift.
- A strong commitment to end pay discrimination by expanding the Equality (Race and Disparity) Bill to make it mandatory for large employers to report their ethnicity and disability pay gap.
- A move towards a single status of worker and transition towards a simpler two-part framework for employment status.
- Reviews into the parental leave and carers leave systems to ensure they are delivering for workers, employers and their loved ones.
While we expect a bumpy road ahead, getting several of these changes through Parliament will be a step in the right direction.
Posted: 14th October 2024