Further to our recent article on the issue of a possible workers rights review, Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, has now confirmed that there will now be no such review.
Workers Rights Review
As we reported in our recent article, it was reported in the Financial Times on the 14th January 2021, that the Government was about to weaken workers rights, with suggestions that they were about to:-
- End the 48 hour working week
- Make changes to rest breaks
- Remove overtime pay from holiday pay entitlement
- That there would no longer be requirements for the logging / reporting of working hours on a daily basis
However, following that report in the Financial Times, Kwasi Kwarteng, denied that there would be any weakening in workers rights, but confirmed that there would be a workers rights review. He said when appearing before the Commons Select Committee on Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the 19th January 2021 that: "we want....to look at the whole range of issues relating to our EU membership and examine what we want...to keep…..We are absolutely looking at safeguarding employment rights. I know there’s been stories in the newspapers that there’s going to be some sort of bonfire of rights. This could not be further from the truth"
U-Turn On Workers Rights Review
Nevertheless, in a change of mind over the workers rights review, in an interview on the ITV Show, Peston, on the 27th January 2021, Mr Kwarteng stated: "So the review is no longer happening within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). I made it very very clear to officials in the department that we’re not interested in watering down workers’ rights....I can’t have been more clear about this on a number of occasions. I’ve said repeatedly that Brexit gives us the opportunity to have higher standards and a higher growth economy and that’s what officials in the department are 100% focused on."
According to the Guardian, the workers rights review had been "signed off by Kwasi Kwarteng’s predecessor Alok Sharma, who left after being given a full-time role leading preparations for the Cop26 climate conference."
Employment Bill
It is anticipated that later this year, the Government will finally introduce its new Employment Bill, which was first announced in the 2019 Queen’s Speech. The new legislation was delayed, awaiting the outcome of the Brexit related trade negotiations between the UK and the EU.
In the new Brexit related trade deal, there is a ‘non-regression clause’ in which there is a commitment by both sides not to reduce or weaken workers rights that were in place as at the 31st December 2020, in a manner that would have a detrimental impact upon trade and investment. With the new announcement by the business secretary that the workers rights review has been axed, there is now highly unlikely to be anything in the new Employment Bill that will undermine the non-regression clause.
Reaction
Commenting about the u-turn on the workers rights review on Twitter, Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite stated: "The epidemic of low pay and insecure work in this country are the real problems, not the basic rights of working people. Kwasi Kwarteng must now put his money where his mouth is. If he wants to improve the lot of UK workers, then pick up the phone – we've got a list ready to go. Start by outlawing the appalling #FireAndRehire practice that's laying waste to wages across the country. And fix sick pay so that being unwell and unable to work in this country is not a sure path to poverty."
Rain Newton-Smith, the chief economist at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), told the Financial Times back on the 18th January 2021, that: "I don’t get any sense from the business community that there is a drive to have a race to be Singapore-on-Thames. They want to ensure we have the right protection for workers, and the right system to incentivise investment."
