Date: 12 September 2011
Usdaw is determined to fight any attack on workers’ rights by the Tory-led Coalition, Deputy General Secretary Paddy Lillis told TUC Congress today (Monday 12 September). Read the full speech...
Paddy Lillis said:
"Employment rights and basic
regulations covering the workplace are at the heart of getting a
decent deal for workers. These rights include:
- Employment rights such as the right to go to tribunal
over unfair dismissal.
- The right to be consulted over redundancies.
- The right to have terms and conditions protected if your
business is transferred to another employer.
It also includes rules over
health and safety and the protection of equality and
anti-discrimination legislation.
But all this is now under
threat.
The Tory-led Coalition is
starting to make the case for sweeping changes to individual and
collective employment rights.
Earlier this year they
launched the so-called Red Tape Challenge.
The Government says it wants
to tackle over-regulation, reduce bureaucracy and cut red tape.
But in reality it is an
attack on workers' employment rights.
It's about reducing the
rules and regulations that employers have to comply with.
What the Tories mean by red
tape is the existence of basic rights for people at work.
Only last week, reports have
emerged that David Cameron wants to look at diluting the Agency
Workers' Regulations.
The Government seems to
blame basic employment rights as being in some way responsible for
the slow economic recovery.
They are wrong.
The economic downturn was
not caused by excess regulation, but by unregulated financial
markets.
There is no evidence that
deregulation creates jobs.
Fair regulation should be an
essential part of a modern economy, a key element of a modern
labour market.
Scrapping employment laws
will do great damage to UK workplaces and the rights and safety of
workers.
Those workers who will
suffer the most will be the low paid and the most vulnerable
workers.
Employment rights and
workplace regulations exist to offer workers a basic protection
while at work.
And it will be the worst
employers who will benefit most from any deregulation.
The UK has one of the least
regulated labour markets among the developed economies.
And the Tory-led Coalition
is seeking to target and erode the minimal rights that workers have
at work.
So how do we respond to this
challenge?
Earlier this year, as part
of the Red Tape Challenge the Government announced a review of
Sunday and Christmas Day trading hours.
We encouraged Usdaw members
and Reps up and down the country to respond to the
consultation.
And they did respond in
their thousands and they shut down the website.
In fact, Vince Cable said at
the British Retail Consortium Conference that the Red Tape
Challenge on trading hours had backfired.
And that workers who wanted
regulation were bombarding the website and making their voices
heard.
Deregulation is a major
threat.
We have to respond to that
challenge.
There will be many different
ways for the Trade Union movement to make its voice heard.
We need to mobilise Trade
Union members to get involved and, if necessary, bombard Government
online consultations such as the Red Tape Challenge.
We need to get the message
across loud and clear that workers want more employment rights and
we want strong regulation in the workplace.
We need to make the case for
rules and regulations in the workplace.
We need to lobby for
workers' rights.
We need to campaign for
employment rights.
And we need to rise to the
challenge when the Tories and their Lib Dem friends start making
the case for deregulation."