[IER] Trade unions absent from Taylor's vision to 'give workers a voice'

Fri Feb 17 17:59:43 GMT 2017

IER News Brief 17/02/17

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news brief

Friday 17th February 2017

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Government employment law tsar Matthew Taylor this week said he wants to give workers a voice <http://ier.us12.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=0b6e8f3ca8&e=71131c031b>  in order to crack down on exploitation, but trade unions - which exist precisely for this cause - were strangely absent from his vision.

In interviews leading up to his tour of the UK to speak to employers and workers, Taylor - who was once an adviser to Tony Blair - said that workers felt like "slaves" and that some employers deliberately misclassify workers as "self-employed" to evade tax.

He also highlighted that migrant workers are being mislead on their rights <http://ier.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=8671fa17a3&e=71131c031b> , opening them up to exploitation - an issue we will discuss at our March 15 Migration after Brexit <http://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=7799e1bf7d&e=71131c031b>  event, for which bookings are now open.

The answer, he said, was to give workers a stronger voice against abuse by raising their awareness of their rights through such mechanisms as the right to written terms and conditions for agency workers, the ability to ask the government directly if you are legally classified as self-employed, and the right for agency workers to request permanent work after a certain time period.

While these policies step gently towards the right direction, the IER cautions that the unbalanced power dynamic between employer and worker means that giving workers "a voice" in the workplace - a necessity on which we can definitely agree - will take more strident action. Currently, only "employees" who have been in continuous employment for two years can claim unfair dismissal and if you go to tribunal for an issue at work it could cost you up to £1,200! With these barriers in place, it's difficult to see how workers will feel able to push back against unscrupulous employers, even with greater awareness of their rights.

Among the 25 proposals in our Manifesto for Labour Law <http://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=38305d473b&e=71131c031b> , we call for the re-establishment of a Ministry of Labour to represent workers in Westminster, the promotion of sectoral and collective bargaining to allow workers to negotiate for fair wages and conditions across the economy, a place for workers on company boards, a universal definition of 'worker' to ensure all people in employment are eligible to receive the full suite of employment rights from day one, and the establishment of a labour inspectorate to ensure employment law is properly enforced.

Speaking of democracy, the controversial Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was passed in the EU Parliament <http://ier.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=5f76f1418b&e=71131c031b>  this week. It will be provisionally applied from as early as March 01, but will not come into effect in the UK until it is ratified by the state. So far, it has not been debated in Westminster and campaign group Global Justice Now warns that there is a chance it could become law without any parliamentary scrutiny at all. Find out more and email your MP <http://ier.us12.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=ac54d4ad51&e=71131c031b> .

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