Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
A new Bill for all workers
LORD JOHN HENDY QC presents a Bill that aims to create the single legal category of 'worker' to give all those who work for a wage the same statutory rights as recognised employees
Deliveroo riders from the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) near Shoreditch, east London, as they go on strike in a dispute for fair pay, safety protections and basic workers' rights, in April 2021

DESPITE promising an Employment Bill on several occasions since it was elected in 2019, the government has now dropped the idea from its legislative programme. 

It has recognised that a number of things need to be put right for Britain’s 32 million workers and vowed in its election manifesto that it “will build on existing employment law with measures that protect those in low paid work and the gig economy” by introducing “a raft of measures.” But nothing has been done. 

So I have drafted a Bill to deal with a particular problem, one acknowledged by the Tories. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
UNION RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS: St Mungo's workers outside the homeless charity's head quarters in Tower Hill, London, as they start a month long strike over pay, May 2023
Workers' Rights / 21 March 2026
21 March 2026

The unions are unhappy with the Employment Rights Act 2025 and with good reason. KEITH EWING and Lord JOHN HENDY KC take a close look at why the Bill promised more than it delivered

NHS resident doctors protest outside Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the Government collapsed over pay. Picture date: Friday July 25, 2025
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

Labour’s watered-down legislation won’t protect us from unfair dismissal or ban some zero-hours contracts until 2027  — leaving millions of young people vulnerable to the populist right’s appeal, warns TUC young workers chair FRASER MCGUIRE

CWU leader Dave Ward
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

CWU leader DAVE WARD tells Ben Chacko a strategy to unite workers on class lines is needed – and sectoral collective bargaining must be at its heart

WORKERS ON THE MARCH: Calling for a new deal for working people in 2022
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

Labour must not allow unelected members of the upper house to erode a single provision of the Employment Rights Bill, argues ANDY MCDONALD MP