Skip to main content
Employment Rights Bill must put power into workers hands, say trade unionists
Speakers at the fringe meeting

LABOUR’S Employment Rights Bill must put power into the hands of workers, not employers’ human resources departments, trade unionists warned today.

A fringe meeting at the TUC Women’s Conference highlighted concerns about the forthcoming legislation, which will reach report stage in Commons next week.

BFAWU general secretary Sarah Woolley said the Bill could bring important improvements in key areas for female workers, but with her union’s members affected most by insecure work, she said that a full ban on zero-hour contracts was needed.

Ms Woolley said the legislation would place a new duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment, adding: “But we need to ensure that there is stronger enforcement and union involvement, because self-policing by employers won’t work.

“If the Bill’s serious about tackling harassment, it must put power into the hands of workers and not just HR departments.”

She said there were “serious gaps in women’s workplace rights,” adding: “We must fight for better bargaining rights alongside this Bill.

“We must continue to organise, because no law is going to be a substitute for worker power.”

University and College Union president Maxine Looby said the Bill “looks good on paper,” but she warned that it meant very little to women affected by intersectionality or in need of reasonable adjustments.

“If it’s not implemented through collective action, I can’t see how much of a difference it’s going to make,” she said.

“Our employers have very little respect for workers and workers’ rights. They [will not be] willing to take this Bill seriously and implement it.”

Jackie Marshall of the Prison Officers Association, whose members are barred from taking industrial action by section 127 of the Public Order Act, said that the current government has not met the union and that the legislation would not reinstate prison officers’ right to strike.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks during a press conference in Westminster, London, May 27, 2025
Politics / 27 May 2025
27 May 2025

Farage's promise to remove two-child benefit cap for British families by cutting asylum-seeker accommodation and net zero projects branded ‘absurd’

Similar stories
WE WILL BE HEARD: Convenor for GMB Scotland Chris Mitchell s
Features / 22 March 2025
22 March 2025
The Employment Rights Bill is a vital opportunity to rebalance power between workers and employers. As it passes to the Lords, pressure must be brought to bear to strengthen this key legislation, argues ANDY McDONALD MP
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) hold a rally o
Features / 18 January 2025
18 January 2025
As the Employment Rights Bill enters Parliament, JAMES HARRISON introduces a podcast designed to help trade unionists, as well as MPs, understand its intentions and how to go about improving it
TUC Congress 2024 / 10 September 2024
10 September 2024
Speaking to Elizabeth Short, SARAH WOOLLEY explains her union’s push for anonymous harassment reporting, an end to NDAs that protect abusive managers in food giants like McDonald’s — and why climate change is a baker’s issue