Peter Kyle’s commitment to the Employment Rights Bill and recognition of the impact of AI is welcomed by Usdaw

The business secretary started his speech to delegates in Liverpool with a firm commitment: “Now, let me start by making something absolutely crystal clear: I will implement the Employment Rights Bill in full. And Conference, let me pay tribute also to the extraordinary work of Angela Rayner, not just on this Bill, but for so much more too. We are eternally grateful to all that she has given to our movement.”

Also as part of his address, Peter Kyle said: “The opportunity to be fully immersed in the future technologies was eye opening and that experience will stay with me in this job too. So I want to say a few words about AI and the impact I believe it will have on the future of businesses, the workforce and the country more generally too. We cannot be the party that tries to live in the past. That space is already occupied by Reform and the Tories. We are the party of the white heat of technology, we are the party of progress. So it falls to us to facilitate the future. We cannot stop AI from changing our economy, no more than we can hold back the tide. But we can use the power of government to harness it and to shape it. And this Labour government will leave nobody behind.”

Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “We are very pleased that the Secretary of State gave a strong commitment to delivering the Employment Rights Bill in full. It is crucial that Labour in power delivers what Labour promised in its manifesto. We also welcome the recognition of the impact of AI on workplaces and workers. Those are the two key issues that we have brought to conference this week.

“We need to ensure that workers can benefit from technological developments at a time where the rapid adaptation of AI across the economy is changing the nature of work and damaging job security. That means the introduction of pro-worker AI regulations and upgraded workers’ rights along with a clear and effective strategy to support workers during change. 

“It remains too easy and too cheap to make workers redundant in the UK, which encourages bad employers to dismiss rather than retrain their workforce. We welcome Labour’s commitment to gathering further views on strengthening the collective redundancy framework. To deliver job security, this review also needs to include proposals to improve statutory redundancy pay provisions.”