UK Deputy PM promises new law to boost workers’ rights next month

Liverpool: British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said on Sunday the government would introduce new legislation intended to give workers more rights next month.

The government is trying to balance demands from trade unions, who traditionally fund the governing Labour Party, and business leaders, who are concerned about some of the changes.

The Employment Rights Bill will include measures such as prohibiting zero-hour contracts, with about 1 million people in Britain on employment contracts that do not specify a minimum number of hours they can work and pay only for the hours they are on shift, and outlawing fire and rehire tactics.

Labour has also pledged to make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from the first day on the job, although probation periods would remain in place.

“We’ll be putting the legislation forward next month,” Rayner told the BBC. “People will see better workers’ rights, the most improved workers’ rights for a generation.”

The government has promised to produce legislation within 100 days of the July national election. Some businesses say it is unclear what the government is planning.

Rayner was speaking at the start of the Labour Party’s annual conference in the northern English city of Liverpool where ministers were under pressure over the decision to limit winter fuel payments to the elderly and donations for clothing and hospitality.

Earlier this week, Rayner and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds met businesses and trade unions to discuss how to end zero-hour contracts, following Labour’s pledge to end the “one-sided” flexibility such contracts offer and making sure that workers get reasonable notice of any changes in their shifts.