In a key vote, Labour Party conference has today endorsed a motion calling for a raft of workers’ rights under the New Deal for Working People.
It puts in writing the commitment that there “will be no regression from the New Deal”. It also states that Labour will back the TUC's call for a campaign of mass opposition to the Minimum Service Levels law, up to and including a strategy of non-compliance and non-cooperation to make them unworkable.
The wording of the motion, which was proposed by the Communication Workers Union and the Fire Brigades Union, commits Labour to a number of measures, including:
- Implementing a single status of worker and ending bogus self-employment within the first term of a Labour Government
- The rollout of sectoral collective bargaining across the economy.
- Repeal of anti-trade union legislation including Trade Union Act 2016 and the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023.
- The end ‘fire and rehire’ and ‘fire and replace’.
- Introducing effective remedies against abuse by employers
- A fully resourced Single Enforcement Body.
- Increasing Statutory Sick Pay and extending to it to self-employed.
- Simplifying the process of union recognition and ensuring reasonable access within workplaces.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said:
Labour Party conference has spoken.
This vote sends a clear message to Keir Starmer and the rest of the Labour leadership that there must be no backsliding on commitments to workers’ rights. The New Deal for Working people must be implemented in full.
For decades, profit and wealth accumulation have been prioritised over the needs of working people. Trade unions have been shackled with authoritarian laws and real wages have plummeted.
If it wants to rebuild Britain, Labour must smash the Tories’ anti-worker agenda and lead the way in improving workers’ rights, conditions and pay.”
