[IER] IER guide to draft workers' rights bill

Mon Nov 27 17:03:25 GMT 2017

IER News Brief 27/11/17

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news brief

Monday 27th November 2017

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Last week, the Works and Pensions (DWP) Committee and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee produced a joint report and draft Bill on the reform of workers' rights <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=2ab2a810a4&e=71131c031b>  following an inquiry into the modern workforce.

Among the key proposals are default worker status for those who are currently classified as "self employed" by large "gig economy" companies; a premium minimum wage for workers without guaranteed hours; and more stringent enforcement of employment law, seeking to prevent firms from exploiting loopholes and reduce the current reliance on workers to police their own rights.

While the IER broadly welcomes the direction of the report, we note that it aligns more closely with the recommendations of the Taylor Review than the proposals put forth in both our Manifesto for Labour Law <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=d60ade2932&e=71131c031b>  and the Labour Party Manifesto For the Many, Not the Few.

Notably, it fails to engage with the significant role of trade unions in both lifting labour standards and ensuring their effective enforcement, focusing instead on improved consultation rights for those without trade union representation, and complex new arrangements for group litigation that ignores trade unions' ability to bring collective action.

The IER also notes that, in places, misunderstandings of the legal and tribunal process betray a lack of legal advice in the drafting of the report, and proposes that in complex areas such as the classification of employment status, a Commission of Experts should be appointed to make legal recommendations.

In our guide to the report <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=6a5f2be381&e=71131c031b>  and the draft Bill, we provide detailed commentary on each recommendation.

The proposals put forth in the Committees' report are the first among many expected recommendations to be made on workers' rights in the coming months. The government has yet to release an official response to the Taylor Review, but have hinted they will do so before the year's end. In their industrial strategy <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=e8d063d030&e=71131c031b> , published today, the government states that it has accepted Taylor's recommendation that a set of measures should be identified against which job quality and success can be assessed. However, in its goals of raising UK investment in research and development, and upskilling the workforce, it once again ignores the role of trade unions and sectoral collective bargaining in achieving these aims.

The IER agrees that improved training and incentives for business to invest in research and development are vital to improving the UK's currently low economic productivity, and argues that sectoral collective bargaining has a key role in encouraging these outcomes. By agreeing decent labour standards, training and apprenticeship programmes at a sectoral level, workers and employers can work together to build a strong economy, and today's framework - which encourages employers to compete on a race to the bottom on employment rights - can be replaced by one that encourages competition based on innovation. 

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At our popular annual employment law update, top lawyers, academics and trade unionists from across the UK meet to discuss the year’s developments in labour law.

With workers’ rights now a key political issue on the agenda of every major party, we look at current trends, successes, challenges, and proposals for better employment law.

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	Liverpool: Post-Brexit Employment Rights and Trade Deals
30 November 2017 - 09:30 - 15:30
Unite the Union, Liverpool
At this one-day conference, some of the UK's leading academics, lawyers and campaigners will discuss the threats to employment law posed by Brexit, as well as proposing ideas for how workers' rights can be protected and even improved upon during the negotiations with the EU, as well as in future trade deals.
Speakers include Hilda Palmer, Professor Keith Ewing, Iain Birrell, Professor John Foster and Dan Kindell.
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	London: Employment Law Update 2017
06 December 2017 - 09:30 - 16:00
Unite the Union, London
This year has been a landmark one for employment law, with the issue of exploitative working practices reaching public consciousness through repeated scandals at “gig economy” and low-pay employers, prompting political inquiry into reform. At our popular annual employment law update, top lawyers, academics and trade unionists from across the UK meet to discuss the year’s developments in labour law and make proposals for the furthering and protection of workers’ rights.
Speakers include Corinna Ferguson, Tara O’Halloran, Stuart Brittenden, Adam Ross, Bruno Gil, Paul Scholey, Jo Seery, John Hendy QC.
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	The Legacy of Thatcherism in European Labour Relations: The Impact of the Politics of Neo-Liberalism and Austerity on Collective Bargaining in a Fragmenting Europe: £8
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As the UK prepares to leave the European Union, this analysis – the 11th in our Comparative Notes series – shines a light on the deleterious effect of the nation's deregulatory influence on the bloc.
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	8 Good Reasons Why Adult Social Care Needs Sectoral Collective Bargaining: £8
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In this booklet, Dr Lydia Hayes sets out the lessons learned from her interdisciplinary research into the social care sector, and builds upon the recommendations made in the Institute of Employment Rights' Manifesto for Labour Law: a comprehensive revision of worker’s rights to propose a sectoral collective bargaining structure for the negotiation of wages and conditions.
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	Labour Law Highlights 2016: £8
Edited by Rebecca Tuck
This year’s Labour Law Highlights is produced against the backdrop of a Brexit vote in the UK and a Trump victory in the USA. It promises to be a bumpy ride ahead!
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	Health and Safety at Work Act: Time for Change: £10
By Phil James and David Walters
The world of work is changing. Fast. But the framework of law tasked with protecting the health, safety and well being of workers is now 50 years old and – according to the authors of this report – no longer fit for purpose. The authors put forth proposals for reform
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	Access to Justice: Exposing the myths: £6
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In the second of IER’s series of Mythbusters, Andrew Moretta considers the many myths surrounding access to justice, including the narrative surrounding the “red tape” and “burdens on business” ideology, which he believes paved the way for systematic attacks on the tribunal system.
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According to the authors of this timely report, the government is attempting to rush into law ‘the most sweeping and radical tightening of rules on industrial action since the Thatcher era of the 1980’s’. They warn that such proposals could result in ‘the biggest showdown over industrial relations for a generation’ and go on to drill down into one aspect of the government’s proposals – strike ballots.
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	The mythology of business: from £6
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The ‘myths’ that this publication takes into consideration are the kind of things that politicians now routinely say without thinking. Yet these 10 myths have very little foundation in reality and are rarely, if ever, accompanied with any concrete evidence to support them.
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