Bad things are happening in the workplace. Labour should go on the attack

The government has promised an employment bill but will it address the phosphorous grenade that Covid has thrown into the British workplace?

British Gas has caused controversy over the new contracts it is imposing on its engineers (PA)

If an employment bill emerges as promised in the forthcoming Queen’s speech, there’s an awful lot for it to address. 

Covid-19 has thrown a phosphorous grenade into the world of work, with far-reaching consequences. The government, – which, remember, promised to “protect and enhance” workers’ rights – looks increasingly behind the curve with the fires from that grenade burning hot wherever you care to look. 

At the end of last week, for example, the TUC produced research showing workers on zero-hour contracts and other insecure jobs were twice as likely to have died from the virus as those in other more stable occupations.

This morning, the Women’s Budget Group, a not-for-profit, publishes research showing self-employed women have suffered particularly badly through the course of the pandemic.

They represent 35 per cent of these workers, but only 29 per cent of the claimants to the government’s self-employment income support scheme (SEISS). It also points out that young women aged 18-25 are the largest group of employees to be furloughed by age and gender. 

With home or hybrid working becoming the norm, Prospect, the professional workers’ union, found two-thirds of UK home workers back a “right to disconnect”, introduced in Ireland recently and being looked at in Canada and other European countries. 

While workers are generally keen on home/flexible working, and its rise is many ways beneficial, the risk of burnout from feeling constantly on the clock is real.

In another survey, the TUC found that almost a quarter of workers had seen a deterioration in their working terms, such as pay or hours, since first lockdown in March. 

Nearly 1 in 10 workers had been told to reapply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions or face losing them.

The latter issue came back into focus last week when hundreds of British Gas engineers lost their jobs after they refused to sign new contracts. The contracts, forcing them to work longer hours for less pay, have been the subject of a longstanding industrial dispute involving the GMB union. 

Opposition to the company’s actions is growing and it may go beyond unions. 

Even investors have started to express discomfort with some of the things that have been going on in the labour market. One the reasons why Deliveroo’s float was a dud is because a number of big fund managers boycotted it, citing its treatment of the riders the company continues to treat as “self-employed” contractors (there’s a dispute backed by the Independent Works of Great Britain union currently going through the courts). 

It’s notable that Pirc, the voting adviser, has said it won’t support fire and rehire as an approach with corporate AGM season approaching and recommendations starting to go out to the institutional shareholders that contract with it.

Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband has publicly tweeted his support for the British Gas engineers and called on for the outlawing of fire and rehire.

This is something Labour should really be doing more of. The widespread deterioration in working standards is something its supporters care deeply about; it also affects many of the voters it needs to convince in places like the “red wall” where poor employment practices and insecure work is not at all uncommon. 

It is a potential wedge issue that the party could and should exploit. While Labour leader Keir Starmer has also previously expressed his “solidarity” with the British Gas workers, even some of his supporters I’ve talked to are wondering why Labour isn’t doing better here.

There is a clear appetite in the country for action and a recognition that Covid has facilitated some very bad practice that the government needs to address. Will the employment bill do that, if it indeed emerges? I have my doubts. 

Will Labour effectively exploit its deficiencies? That remains to be seen.