The UK government needs to urgently rethink a key element of its flagship workers’ rights reforms to avoid inadvertently creating “a veto on all contractual change”, according to a leading trade unionist.
Mike Clancy, general secretary of the union Prospect, said provisions in the employment rights bill intended to stop employers using controversial “fire and rehire” tactics to impose worse terms and conditions on their staff could backfire unless the draft legislation was amended.
“It is essential to ban the practice of fire and rehire, but the government must be careful it doesn’t inadvertently create a veto against all contractual change,” he told the Financial Times.
Both business groups and employment lawyers are concerned that in its current form, the legislation could make it very difficult for employers to make routine organisational changes — such as a relocation from one city to another, where some employees did not want to move.
Unions including Prospect have fought hard for stringent curbs on fire and rehire to be included in the sweeping overhaul of employment law — which also encompasses a big upgrade of union rights — and have been adamant that ministers should not cede to business lobbying to water them down.
The aim is to stop employers using coercive tactics to cut pay or benefits, except where they face such acute financial difficulties that the changes are essential to keep operating.
Banning fire and rehire became a rallying cry for unions after a...
Russian propaganda continues to spread disinformation, claiming that European countries are attacking ‘Ukrainian drones’ rather than Russian ones. According to the Center for Countering Disinforma...