Angela Rayner has given a “cast iron guarantee” that Labour would bring in a new bill to ban zero-hours contracts and repeal anti-strike laws within 100 days of a new government.
The deputy Labour leader, who leads for the party on workers’ rights, told the TUC’s annual conference that it was putting improving the lives of workers at its core, and would bring in a “proper living wage” to raise pay.
Her pledges came after claims from Unite, a major Labour donor and one of the biggest unions, previously expressed fears some commitments to workers’ rights were being watered down.
But speaking in Liverpool, Rayner said she came to the conference “with one message: the next Labour government will build an economy that works for working people, with a new deal for working people”.
She said Labour’s commitments for the first 100 days after taking office included banning zero-hours contracts, ending blacklisting, and repealing two “spiteful and bitter” major anti-union laws from 2016 and this year.
The shadow deputy prime minister also mentioned strengthening sick pay, fair pay agreements in social care, giving trade unions access to workplaces and ending the gender pay gap.
“Work will finally pay, rights will be properly enforced, and crucially it will strengthen the role of trade unions in our society,” she said.
“This is vital, because the new deal wasn’t sent down on some tablet by politicians, it was developed in collaboration with you – the trade union movement – and it will be delivered with you.
“Key to this, we will update trade union laws to make them fit for the 21st century, because for too long these have failed to keep pace with the hard reality on the ground.”
Rayner gave the keynote speech after several addresses to the TUC in previous years by Keir Starmer, who attended a dinner of union leaders in Liverpool on Monday night. Sources said he was very well-received, although Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, did not attend.
Rayner’s speech was strongly welcomed by the TUC, the organising body for trade unions, which said Labour’s offer would be transformative and the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation, in contrast to “the Tories’ dire record on workers’ rights and pay”.
Paul Nowak, the TUC’s general secretary, said the Conservatives had “presided over an explosion in insecure work and the longest pay squeeze in modern history. And they are now launching a full-scale attack on the right to strike.”
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said she was in no doubt that the country “clearly would be better off with a Labour government”.
But she added: “That said, as the general secretary of Unite, my job is to fight for workers and ensure Labour commits to making the lives of working people better. As with all things the devil will be in the detail and the words on the page. There can be no backtracking on the agreed workers’ rights. Britain is hurting and Labour needs to be bold.”
The Conservatives sought to portray Rayner’s speech as a sign that Labour would be too influenced by trade unions in government.
Greg Hands, the Conservative chair, said it showed the “mask has slipped”. He said: “Despite Keir Starmer’s short-term promises to be pro-business, his deputy leader is committing to Labour’s union paymasters that they will have more control over Britain’s economy. Reversing anti-strike laws will mean more strikes, damaging the economy and disrupting the lives of hardworking people.”
