[UK] Call for House of Lords to support Employment Rights Bill

In the UK, before the second reading of the Employment Rights Bill in the House of Lords, the High Pay Centre (HPC) published and distributed a briefing calling on parliamentarians to support and strengthen the bill, High Pay Centre reports.

The HPC briefing makes three key recommendations on where the substance of the bill could be strengthened:

• In order to truly deliver ‘fair pay’ HPC says the negotiating body that is going to oversee new ‘Fair Pay Agreements’ that will apply in the social care sector (and potentially other sectors in future) should have a remit to cover excess pay-outs to owners and executives at the top of companies providing social care, as well as under-payment of social care workers in the middle and at the bottom.

• HPC says that the vital and welcome new requirement for employers to provide workers with a statement of their trade union rights could also cover other key employment rights, including rights to the minimum wage, sick pay or consultation rights. It says many workers - particularly lower earners - lack awareness of their rights at work generally, and ensuring they are informed of key rights when they start a new job would go a long way to ensuring these important rights are actually applied.

• When workers vote to recognise a trade union, HPC reportedly says in its briefing that this should give the union rights to consultation on major business decisions affecting their members. It claims this would give people more voice and control over their working lives, and improve a situation in which the UK ranks 26th out of 28 European countries for worker participation in decision-making at work. HPC’s submission to the consultation on the UK’s Modern Industrial Framework, making this argument, was endorsed by 12 Professors of Employment Relations from leading UK Universities.

For further detail on the motivations for these recommendations, HPC’s recent publication ‘A Charter for Fair Pay‘ reportedly details a series of new policies for empowering workers, enabling a more participatory business culture, boosting pay and productivity and reducing income inequality.

Source: High Pay Centre

(Link via original reporting)

In the UK, before the second reading of the Employment Rights Bill in the House of Lords, the High Pay Centre (HPC) published and distributed a briefing calling on parliamentarians to support and strengthen the bill, High Pay Centre reports.

The HPC briefing makes three key recommendations on where the substance of the bill could be strengthened:

• In order to truly deliver ‘fair pay’ HPC says the negotiating body that is going to oversee new ‘Fair Pay Agreements’ that will apply in the social care sector (and potentially other sectors in future) should have a remit to cover excess pay-outs to owners and executives at the top of companies providing social care, as well as under-payment of social care workers in the middle and at the bottom.

• HPC says that the vital and welcome new requirement for employers to provide workers with a statement of their trade union rights could also cover other key employment rights, including rights to the minimum wage, sick pay or consultation rights. It says many workers - particularly lower earners - lack awareness of their rights at work generally, and ensuring they are informed of key rights when they start a new job would go a long way to ensuring these important rights are actually applied.

• When workers vote to recognise a trade union, HPC reportedly says in its briefing that this should give the union rights to consultation on major business decisions affecting their members. It claims this would give people more voice and control over their working lives, and improve a situation in which the UK ranks 26th out of 28 European countries for worker participation in decision-making at work. HPC’s submission to the consultation on the UK’s Modern Industrial Framework, making this argument, was endorsed by 12 Professors of Employment Relations from leading UK Universities.

For further detail on the motivations for these recommendations, HPC’s recent publication ‘A Charter for Fair Pay‘ reportedly details a series of new policies for empowering workers, enabling a more participatory business culture, boosting pay and productivity and reducing income inequality.

Source: High Pay Centre

(Link via original reporting)