Flagship Labour plan to be replaced with six-month threshold after Peter Kyle vows to not let businesses ‘lose’ under new law
The government is to ditch its flagship policy from the workers’ rights bill, removing the right to protection from unfair dismissal from the first day of employment and replacing it with a six-month threshold.
The move comes after the business secretary, Peter Kyle, told businesses at the CBI conference this week that he would listen to concerns about the effects of the law change on hiring. A trade union source told the Guardian: “They’ve capitulated and there may be more to come.”
The TUC said it was prepared to accept the compromise arrangement, after days of negotiation. “The absolute priority now is to get these rights – like day one sick pay - on the statute book so that working people can start benefitting from them from next April,” its general secretary Paul Nowak said.
Kyle has replaced Jonathan Reynolds as business secretary, the latter having steered through the legislation with the former deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner.
Kyle committed on Monday to ensuring businesses would not “lose” as a result of the changes, which included a ban on zero-hour contracts and day-one protections for workers against unfair dismissal.
“I will not allow it to become zero-sum, [you] give one to the other, the other loses … This has to be got right,” he said.
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