Leaders claim scaremongering from business figures may cause key legislation to become ‘meaningless’
Trades unions are warning Andy Burnham that Labour’s policy on cutting zero-hours contracts risks failing to live up to the party’s manifesto.
Union leaders are seeking reassurances from the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, amid what the TUC has condemned as “scaremongering” from business groups.
The unions were alarmed by limitations on who will qualify for new guaranteed hours contracts, mooted in Labour’s recent consultation document on the policy.
Joanne Thomas, the general secretary of shop workers’ union Usdaw, said: “The right to a contract that guarantees the hours you normally work is a matter of basic fairness and security. It must be applied to everyone to deliver the government’s manifesto commitment.”
She added that the policy “must apply to everyone up to and including full-time workers. We absolutely cannot have loopholes that make this meaningless.”
Ross Holden, the head of policy and research at the GMB union, said: “We are concerned that without a major rethink there is a risk this policy is not matching what we said in the manifesto.”
He added that unions are worried about whether their concerns are being given sufficient weight. “If the policy development is one-sided then we risk this being watered down.”
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