How the next Labour Government will strengthen employment rights - Angela Rayner

Not only because this will be good for working people, and good for our wider economy, but because our fair work agenda will be key to how we bring opportunity to every corner of this country.

Sir Keir Starmer has appointed me Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, Strategic Lead for Labour’s New Deal for Working People, and Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Almost as many jobs as I had before.

I’m delighted to be in this new post, because as a young, single mum, it was a Labour Government that levelled the playing field for me. When I most needed it, a council house gave me and my son a secure home instead of surfing sofas. That in turn meant I could go out and find the job that I built a life upon.

The minimum wage meant I earned more. A local authority job gave me better skills at work and joining a union changed my whole life.

A home, a unionised job, a thriving community empowered to create good local services and educational opportunities. These things were my lifeline - what Levelling Up could have been and could still be.

Good jobs and secure homes are the foundations of thriving lives and of a strong economy. True growth, which benefits all people in all places of Britain, is built on the pillars of decent jobs and secure housing. They were the pillars I relied upon to get where I am today.

But the foundations I relied upon to improve my life and my community has instead been levelled down by the Tories.

With house building cratering and wages plummeting across the whole country, the government’s agenda is a sham.

An empty slogan won’t pay decent wages, false promises won’t build secure homes, and a sound bite won’t empower local people and local communities to take control of their futures.

This Government hasn’t just turned their backs on vulnerable workers but our entire economy. Be in no doubt, Tory Ministers are the only workers that can get fired and rehired on better terms and conditions.

For far too long, unions have had barriers put in the way of your work, damaging industrial relations and worsening disputes. The Tories pushed through the 2016 Trade Union Act, preventing fair bargaining and holding back living standards. And this year they gave us The Minimum Service Levels Bill. A spiteful and bitter attack that threatens nurses with the sack.

We know going on strike is always a last resort, but it’s a fundamental freedom that must be respected. So let me tell you loud and clear, the next Labour Government will ask Parliament to repeal these anti-trade union laws within our first 100 days.

I make no apologies that we will work hand-in-hand with trade unions as we will work with business to deliver a real partnership based on mutual respect, cooperation, and negotiation.

Labour’s New Deal for Working People will transform ordinary working people’s lives. Work will finally pay, rights will be properly enforced, and crucially it will strengthen the role of trade unions in our society.

Key to this, we will update trade union laws to make them fit for the 21st century, because for too long these have failed to keep pace with the hard reality on the ground.

Take the laws protecting reps and officials, which don’t account for technological advancements of the past 10 years, or how fragmented workplaces actually operate today.

The Consulting Association Scandal that blacklisted thousands of unionised workers must never be allowed to happen again.

Which is why I’m delighted to announce today that the next Labour Government will act decisively and conclusively to stamp out blacklisting for once and for all.

First, we will update regulations to outlaw the use of predictive technologies for blacklisting and safeguard against singling out workers for mistreatment or the sack without any evidence of human interaction.

Second, we will act to end the loophole that allows employers to pass the dirty work down to third party contractors, so that any third party found to be carrying out blacklisting can legally be held to account.

Third, we will give Employment Tribunals the power to order the destruction of any list - digital or not - to stop lists from being hidden or used again.

Finally, we will ensure lessons are learnt from past historic injustices, so that these scandals can never happen again.

Angela Rayner, Shadow Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, was speaking at TUC Congress.