REACTIONARY peers have mobilised to try to gut Labour’s Employment Rights Bill, voting to keep the zero-hours contracts the legislation seeks to restrict.

Tory and Liberal Democrats in the Lords have forced through an amendment in the house, where Labour does not command a majority, merely giving workers the “right to request” a contract which reflects their regular working hours.

At present the Bill mandates bosses to offer such a contract. The peers also voted to remove any obligation from employers to pay a worker if a shift is cancelled 48 hours or more in advance.

There are fears the Lords may likewise seek to remove protections against fire-and-rehire tactics by employers.

It is very likely that Labour will simply reinstate the provisions in the Commons, although bosses’ organisations will doubtless intensify lobbying against the protections.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak urged ministers to stand firm against the peers, saying: “The Conservatives have once again sided with bad bosses by voting to keep workers on zero-hours contracts.

“They are out of touch and defying the will of the public.”

Seventy-two per cent of voters back the ban on zero-hours contracts, including around two-thirds of Tory and Reform voters.

“I would challenge any Tory lord or Lib Dem peer to try to survive on a zero-hours contract, not knowing from week to week how much work they will have,” Mr Nowak said.

“The sight of hereditary peers denying workers basic protections belongs in another century – not modern Britain.

“They’re defending the broken status quo and are putting their own vested interests ahead of working people’s lives. 

“The Employment Rights Bill is badly needed – it will deliver long overdue and sensible changes like banning exploitative zero hours contracts, ending fire-and-rehire and greater protection from harassment at work.

“The government must stand firm and defend these common sense reforms in the face of cynical and political attacks.”

In the Lords debate, former TUC official Baroness Kay Carberry warned that “zero-hours contract workers are much more likely to be young and to work in elementary occupations.

“These are the least empowered workers in the workforce; they are unlikely to understand their rights, even if the employer has complied with the requirement to find information. 

“They are the least likely to be represented by a union and the least likely to know how to exercise their rights. The right to request guaranteed hours, in those circumstances, is not a real right at all.”