“Don’t be the P&O prime minister” – TUC sends stark warning to Liz Truss on workers’ rights

  • NEW POLLING reveals huge majority of Conservative voters want stronger workers’ rights – and want to protect and build on EU-retained workers’ rights
  • “You can’t grow the economy by slashing workers’ rights”, TUC warns new PM and chancellor

The TUC has today (Wednesday) urged the new prime minister “not to touch our hard-won workers’ rights” as the union body warns Liz Truss “don’t be the P&O prime minister”.

It will be six months since the P&O scandal next week, which saw 800 seafarers get sacked without notice and consultation and was widely regarded as a nadir in recent history for the treatment of workers in Britain.

But it has been reported that Liz Truss will review all rights which derive from EU law, including holiday pay, safe limits on working time and equal pay for women and men – with a view to watering down or getting rid of those rights.

Truss also pledged an attack on the right of working people to strike for better pay and conditions.

The union body says that that workers face a “double whammy” as the Conservative government is threatening to rip up their legal rights while attacking their ability to defend their working conditions and living standards through collective action.

“You can’t grow the economy by slashing workers’ rights”

The TUC warns “you can’t grow the economy by slashing workers’ rights” in a takedown of the new prime minister and chancellor’s “ideological and reckless” economic vision.

Writing in the Financial Times, the new chancellor put economic growth at the heart of his plan for the economy.

But the union body says that the government’s mooted plans to rip up workers’ rights is “completely at odds” with any plan for real economic growth.

The union body adds that “no serious business leader is clamouring to slash the rights enjoyed by their staff” – and that the government will be “giving a green light to P&O style rogue employers to skimp on pay and drive down workplace conditions” if they pursue a deregulatory agenda.

The TUC warns that the Liz Truss government risks repeating the same mistakes of recent Conservative governments in allowing insecure, poorly paid jobs to replace good ones and overseeing the longest and harshest wage squeeze in modern history.

The TUC also points to its recent analysis which reveals insecure work is costing the economy £10 billion a year in lost tax revenues and increased social security payments.

Huge support for stronger workers’ rights

The warning comes as new TUC polling by GQR shows “knock out” support for boosting workers’ rights.

Voters of all parties across the political spectrum support stronger workers’ rights, according to the new polling.

The overwhelming majority of the public – including a majority of those who say they will vote Conservative at the next election – want to see rights in the workplace bolstered:

  • Eight in 10 (79%) support protecting and enhancing all workers’ rights which have been retained since we left the EU such as paid holiday, rest breaks, and safe limits on working time – and 81% of Conservative voters
  • Three in four (74%) support ending ‘fire and rehire’ – the practice where employers threaten to sack workers unless they accept new contracts with worse terms and conditions – rising to 77% among Conservative voters
  • Three in four (76%) support boosting workers’ rights in the gig economy –  rising to 78% of Conservative voters
  • Seven in 10 (68%) support banning zero hours contracts – 66% of Conservative voters
  • More than three in four (77%) support the introduction of ‘fair pay agreements’ across whole sectors to introduce minimum pay and rights floors in industries –  78% of Conservative voters.

Those who voted Conservative in 2019 but now intend to vote Labour at the next general election also back a boost to workers’ rights in massive numbers:

  • Nine in 10 (87%) support protecting and enhance all workers’ rights which have been retained since we left the EU
  • Three in four (75%) support ending ‘fire and rehire’
  • Eight in ten (79%) support boosting workers’ rights in the gig economy
  • More than seven in ten (73%) support banning zero hours contracts
  • Eight in 10 (80%) support the introduction of ‘fair pay agreements’ across whole sectors to introduce minimum pay and rights floors in industries

Strengthening workers’ rights is also overwhelmingly popular across all age groups, but is most popular among the over 55s.

The TUC says that the polling shows stronger workers’ rights is a “vote winner”, while ripping up labour laws is a “vote loser” – as well as a way to drive down living standards across the country.

Nation of grafters

The TUC says the threats to workers’ rights and limits on workers’ ability to bargain for better pay and conditions show that the Conservative government is “cooking up a recipe for low-paid, burnt-out Britain”.

The TUC adds that Britain is a “nation of grafters” – hitting back at Truss who previously accused British workers of a “lack of graft”.

Workers in Britain work the longest hours in Europe and put in £27 billion worth of unpaid overtime during the last year.

There were 3.8 million workers doing unpaid overtime in 2021, putting in an average of 7.6 extra unpaid hours a week

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity at work.

“But the P&O scandal was a reminder that too many workers in this country are treated like disposable labour by their employers.

“The weight of public opinion is clear. British people want stronger workers’ rights. They want more power in the workplace to defend their living standards.

“And they want to end the scourge of insecure work by banning exploitative practices like zero hours contracts.

“Nearly six months after the P&O scandal, it’s time Conservative ministers delivered labour laws fit for the 21st century. But instead, they seem intent on dragging us backwards on workplace rights.”

On her message to the new prime minister, Frances added:

“The new administration should be listening to working people, not taking a wrecking ball to their rights at work.

“My message to Liz Truss is this – don’t touch our hard-won workers’ rights, and don’t be the P&O prime minister.”

On the government’s economic vision, Frances added:

“You can’t grow the economy by slashing workers’ rights.

“And it’s telling that no serious business leader is clamouring to go down that path.

“Let’s be clear. If this government rips up workers’ rights, it will giving a green light to P&O style rogue employers to skimp on pay and drive down workplace conditions in every corner of the country.

“Introducing the trade union act, slashing unfair dismissal rights, and cutting corporate taxes left us with longest pay squeeze for 200 years and forecasts of a recession that is set to last all of next year.