LABOUR’S watered-down employment rights bill will leave workers at risk of “further exploitation” without key changes, MPs have warned.
Ministers are under pressure to beef up the legislation, after it was suggested that one of the key planks - the “right to switch off” – would be abandoned.
The Government has dropped part of the bill which would give workers the right not to be contacted by their employers during their time off, The Sunday Times reported.
And concerns are growing about other loopholes in the legislation.
Labour MP Andy McDonald (above), who drew up the original plans for Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet – said the bill must be strengthened.
Writing in the i newspaper, he said that the bill should create a “single, clear employment status” to tackle “bogus self-employment” which led to “insecure” conditions for workers.
He said: “This delay risks allowing further exploitation, with companies continuing to game the system until definitive action is taken.”
And while he welcomed measures to introduce collective bargaining in social care and school support work, McDonald said this measure should be expanded across other sectors to “prevent a race to the bottom”.
Elsewhere, the Labour backbencher argued that trade unions should be given the legal right to access workplaces to organise employees “without intimidation or obstruction”.
Former Cabinet minister Liam Byrne (below), the chair of the business and trade committee, said that the law did not go far enough to prevent rogue employers from mistreating workers.
In a report, the committee warned that the law created a loophole which would allow companies to employ agency workers on de facto zero hours contracts, which it is ostensibly attempting to ban.
Byrne said: “We want ministers to make some strategic changes to the Employment Rights Bill to help make sure Britain’s best firms can no longer be undercut by rogue companies cutting corners and exploiting their workers.”
A UK Government spokesman said: “Our Employment Rights Bill will upgrade workers’ rights across the UK, tackle poor working conditions and benefit businesses and workers alike.
“Getting the labour market moving again is essential to economic growth, helping to deliver on our plan for change. This pro-business, pro-worker government has engaged extensively with businesses and unions, and we look forward to continuing these discussions.”
