Labour’s workers’ rights plan slammed as ‘unrecognisable’ and a ‘betrayal’ by Unite union boss

Labour’s draft New Deal for workers’ rights is now “unrecognisable”, unions have claimed, as the party reportedly scraps plans to ban zero-hours contracts.

Party leader Keir Starmer has long pledged to overhaul workers’ rights if his party gets into power after the next general election.

Labour’s package of proposed reforms was said to include raising sick pay, banning fire and rehire, and outlawing contracts that fail to offer workers a minimum number of guaranteed hours.

But a draft new deal U-turns on key tenets of the plan, Sharon Graham, leader of Unite the Union, has said.

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“This new Labour document on the New Deal, issued to the unions on Monday (6 May), is a row back on a row back,” she said. “It is totally unrecognisable from the original proposals produced with the unions. Unrecognisable. Workers will see through this and mark this retreat after retreat as a betrayal.”

Other unions were more sympathetic with Labour’s altered New Deal package. Affiliated unions have signed on to the new package, and the Trade Union Congress has said it “expects” Labour to deliver on its workers’ rights commitments.

The New Deal is merely the latest Labour policy package to be diluted. In February, the party slashed its £28bn-per-year green investment plans, while in 2023 he dropped plans to abolish the House of Lords.

What will be in Labour’s New Deal for workers’ rights?

Labour announced the ‘New Deal for working people’ way back in 2022. “If we create good work for everyone, we will all benefit. With Labour, we can make Britain the best place to work,” Starmer said.

In February this year, the Labour leader warned business leaders that the policy – set to be introduced within the first 100 days of government – “wouldn’t please everyone in the room”.

But since then, business lobby groups have reportedly been more vocal in their criticisms of the plan, so Labour has promised “formal consultation” with business ahead of implementing any promises.

This means some policies will be introduced as “draft legislation” within 100 days, which would not begin the formal process of becoming law until consultations had been completed. This leaves room for significant implementation delay, unions have warned.

“We know Labour will come under pressure from business interests but there should be no backtracking and no weakening,” said Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union. “Labour needs to deliver this as one of its top priorities. If there is a rolling back there will be significant anger.”

The content of the bill has already been dialled down, unions claim. Zero-hours contracts – an employment arrangement whereby bosses don’t have to give workers a minimum number of hours – will no longer be banned. Instead, workers will be able to ‘opt’ to stay on zero hours.

“If you choose to carry on with a zero-hours contract, you can do so. It is a right [employees will have] to have that contract, and it would not be able to be abused … The law will set out the minimum standards that are expected and that will be enforced in the way all employment law is enforced,” a Labour spokesperson told the Guardian.

However, Graham said that the new plans put workers at risk.

“This new document is turning what was a real New Deal for workers into a charter for bad bosses. Labour don’t want a law against fire and rehire and they are effectively ripping up the promise of legislation on a New Deal for workers in its first 100 days,” she said.

“Instead, we have codes of conduct and pledges of consultation with big business. Likewise, the proposal to legislate against zero-hours contracts is watered down to almost nothing.”

“In truth this new document is not worthy of discussion. All unions must now demand that Labour changes course and puts the original New Deal for Workers back on the table.”