This is what a fundamental power shift looks like. Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, has swept away the worst of the Tories’ strike-banning laws. The 2023 law, known as the Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Act, denied the right to strike for 20% of workers, contravening human rights law. Within Labour’s first 100 days in power – so before 13 October – the government will introduce a new working rights law. This could radically redress the balance of power between employees and employers.
The assault on unions by Tory governments showed how easily undefended rights of all kinds are lost. Practices such as fire and rehire, zero-hours contracts and extreme barriers to union recognition have infringed on workers’ rights that were won eons ago. Thanks to anti-union laws membership has halved, from 13 million in 1979 to 6.7 million in 2021. As a result, pay as a share of GDP has fallen; in 1975, it accounted for 72%, and last year it accounted for 59%.
Those anti-union laws work like this. For 12 years, GMB union organisers sought access to Amazon “fulfilment” warehouses. In Coventry, they stood outside the gates in all weathers, talking to workers. Workplaces where people most need union protection are hardest to organise. Staff turnover is high and many workers, often not English speakers, fear reprisals. The law favours union-busters.
Amanda Gearing, a senior GMB organiser, recruited many workers in the area, and often encountered management misinformation and fear. “On this pay, anyone with a family is on universal credit, lots [are] using food banks, so fear is easy to stir. They were told union recognition meant delaying pay rises for two years,” she told me. The Central Arbitration Committee, the official, independent overseer of workplace ballots, can only agree to one on union recognition when it reckons 40% of workers would vote yes.
When the GMB eventually won enough members, some workers were pressed into attending six hours of anti-union seminars, according to the GMB. Foreign workers feared for their visas and promotions, Gearing said. Workers were easily intimidated, which is unsurprising: they’re used to spending every moment of a 10-hour shift being monitored, disciplined and dismissed for missing targets.
Last month the union lost the ballot by a handful of votes (the law requires a high turnout and bans electronic voting). Only fear of reprisal and gross untruths can explain why this happened. The benefits of union membership are clear: once a union is recognised, its members tend to get better pay, stronger health and safety standards and the right to representation if they’re unfairly dismissed. They also get free visa and benefit advice, and free Esol courses to improve their English. The GMB still offers multiple learning courses that help staff learn skills to progress, even though funding for these was axed in 2019 by the then education secretary, Gavin Williamson.
Despite the obstacles they face, some workers are still winning. Community, the small general union formed out of the Iron and Steel trades, just won a ballot for recognition at the large distribution chain Euro Car Parts in Tamworth, Staffordshire, after its reps spent eight years trying to recruit members. Gavin Miller, Community’s national secretary, described how hard it was to recruit when its only access to employees was in the street, as they hurried home or to second jobs. “Everything is cat and mouse, with false rumours and no equal access to put our myth-buster messages,” he said.
Union organisers say Labour’s reforms will make all the difference. Every employer will have to allow unions inside to address their workforce, from care homes to fast food outlets, so membership will soar. The threshold for holding recognition ballots will fall, and workers will be able to vote electronically. Rights are worthless without strong enforcement, so Labour’s Fair Work Agency will inspect workplaces and levy fines. The Tories warn that this will mean more strikes. The irony is their union-bashing led to more strikes in 2023 than in any year since the 1980s.
Expect low pay to rise under Labour’s promise of a “genuine” minimum wage. The new instruction to the Low Pay Commission by Rayner and the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, is likely to make the rate rise faster: beyond considering the median wage and economic conditions, it must now take account of the real cost of living.
Not everyone struggles with declining wages. A report on Monday from the High Pay Centre showed that the mean average pay of FTSE 100 CEOs rose 12.2% last year to £4.98m, or 120 times the typical £33,000 wage. Last week, Barclays was first UK bank to abandon the EU cap on bonuses, introduced after the banker’s crash but abolished by Kwarsi Kwarteng, the disaster chancellor (so far, Rachel Reeves has not reinstated the cap). We shall see if this sends top pay sky-rocketing again, as in Thatcher’s big bang era. The European Banking Authority reports that the UK is home to 73% of Europe’s millionaire bankers.
Some sense of proportion and propriety may be restored as union membership grows. Back in the 1970s, strong unions shamed boardrooms over excessive greed. In the 1980s and 90s, the share of income held by the top 1% rose astronomically, which correlated with the declining influence of the unions. Fat cats earning squillions perhaps have trouble sitting down to negotiations looking their unionised workforce in the eye.
Labour’s new rights arrive as wages for the great majority of people are lower than they were in 2008. As Keir Starmer promised before the election, Labour will “level up workers’ rights in a way that has not been attempted for decades”. Half of workplaces have no union presence and no knowledge of unions. A rise in union membership will bring not just financial improvement (union membership carries an average 4.2% pay premium), but also a political awareness that has faded as unions have waned. Polling shows overwhelming support for Labour’s working rights, including among Tory voters. The return of unions could herald a seismic cultural change in attitudes towards fair pay and grotesque greed.
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
