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‘Over decades in places like the one I grew up in, the good, secure jobs our parents and grandparents could build a life on were replaced by low pay and insecure work,’ Angela Rayner writes
Labour was elected on a promise to deliver for working people, and less than 100 days into the new Labour Government, today we will deliver on our pledge to you.
Our plan – published in Parliament today – will represent the biggest upgrade to rights at work in a generation, providing a platform for growth after years of stagnation. It will mean nothing less than a New Deal for Working People.
Some said it couldn’t be done, the Tories say it shouldn’t be done – but working people have waited too long for change.
Over decades in places like the one I grew up in, the good, secure jobs our parents and grandparents could build a life on were replaced by low pay and insecure work. And for the last 14 years, the Tories failed working people, leaving behind an economy riven with insecurity and blighted by low pay.
We’ve inherited a battered economy from the Conservatives who presided over ‘strike Britain’ – with their scorched-earth approach to strikes. This has held back communities, held back business and held back our economy.
Today – we start to turn the tide. Today – we set out measures to drive growth and make our economy more productive, through a proper partnership between business and worker.
For the first time all workers will have access to sick pay when they need it. We will end exploitative zero hours contracts, fire and rehire and workers will be paid a wage that matches the cost of living.
9 million people have been with their employer for less than two years will benefit from protection against unfair dismissal from day one on the job.
1.7 million people who are out of the labour market because they are looking after children, family or other loved ones will benefit from new policies on flexible working.
Almost 2 million employees face the bereavement of a close family member each year and will receive a right to time off work to grieve.
Thousands of pregnant women and mothers returning from maternity leave a year are dismissed each year at present benefiting from new protections. Tens of thousands of fathers brought into scope of paternity leave.
In total more than 10 million workers will benefit from Labour’s plan in every corner of this country.
So if you are in casual work, unable to rely on guaranteed hours – this is a government delivering for you. If you are working hard on low pay and struggling to make ends meet – this is a government delivering for you.
If you want a country with growth at its core – this is a government delivering for you. We are building an economy fit for the future and making work pay.
That’s why our plan has won the backing of businesses, big and small, up and down the country. They know the economy the Tories presided was failing, that if work doesn’t pay it is local businesses and the local economy that suffer.
Our plan will keep more people in work and put more money in working people’s pockets to spend, boosting economic growth, resilience and the conditions for innovation.
We know the out-of-touch Tories will oppose this every step of the way. Just like they opposed Labour’s minimum wage, and now – shamefully – want to take us back to the dark ages, when women were denied maternity pay.
But it’s clear they are out of step with modern Britain. Unlike me, they didn’t have to start their working life on casual terms, unable to guarantee that there would even be a pay check next month.
This plan is personal to me, and to our Prime Minister. Now we are around the Cabinet table, working people have a government determined to deliver for them.
