Labor Conference 2021 live: Angela Rayner vows to advance workers’ rights and confront ‘corrupt Labor’ | Policy

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When I think of the sacrifices the workers have made, I think of Jill and Leslie, the Unison representatives who live in my constituency and do the same job I used to do now. They visit the old and the weak who cannot manage themselves. They get paid less than the minimum wage which is already too low to live because they don’t get paid between visits. With each trip, for everyone they care about, they are faced with a choice: Should I reduce my time in caring? Or do I work longer hours without pay? It’s not an option for Jill and Leslie. They are carers in every sense of the word because they care deeply about the people they care for. They value their work and are proud of it. They deserve not only fair salaries and decent conditions, but dignity and respect. The core values ​​of our party and our country as well. That’s why today I’m publishing our green paper on labor rights.

This green paper is for every parent who has been ripping your hair about childcare, or who has missed a sports day or parenting evening because you couldn’t show up and leave early. It is for every young man who has not dared to turn down a shift in a zero-hour contract because you may not get the hours next week, who cannot take a break and cannot get sick. It is for every worker who has gone to work and never returned home, and for their families who will never see them again.

The Labor government will bring together representatives of workers and employers to negotiate wages and conditions in each sector. Collective bargaining in every sector will end the free market for all that encourages undermining, exploitation, and the race to the bottom. It will give workers and their representatives a legally enforceable seat at the table to set a fair job rate, agree on basic standards, address gender and race pay gaps, end discrimination, advance equality, and make work accessible to workers with disabilities.

We’ll start with Social Care and the 600,000 caregivers who are paid less than a living wage. In New Zealand, the sister party concludes agreements just like this one. In Wales, our Labor Government’s social partnership means that workers have a real say in the issues that affect their lives.

Work in the authority gives all workers from the first day in their jobs: sick pay, vacation, parental leave, protection from unfair dismissal. We will create a single worker status, ban fake self-employment and end the absurd situation in which you can wear a uniform, work regular hours on only one job, and yet be considered a self-employer by law. Either you are a worker or you are really self-employed, in either case we will change your working life for the better. Not only will we ban zero hour contracts, but we will ensure that all contracts are minimum hours and reflect normal working life, requiring notice of shift changes and payment when canceled at the last minute.

I think of the young parent in my constituency trying to raise a child while working shifts under a zero-hour contract. Every week hoping their shift will work around childcare because they can’t leave their little one waiting at the school gates but they have to put food on the table too. Labor government will change their lives, by writing common decency and fairness into the rules of our economy. And congress, that’s why Labor will end the scandalous practice of firing and re-employment once and for all.

A global pandemic has reinforced for many of us just how precious a vacation can be, and just how stressful the daily burden can be. So Labor will introduce a new right to flexible work as the default option, protections for those with care responsibilities and a right to stop as well. Working from home has given some of us new freedom and flexibility, but it has also blurred the lines between what’s at home and what’s work. The new economy needs worker rights that reflect the way we work now.

We will learn lessons from this pandemic. Increase statutory sickness pay and make it universal, so that everyone can afford to live while sick or self-isolating. This is not only fair to workers, but vital to all of our health.

We will put mental health and safety on a legal equal footing with physical health and safety, and make sure the laws are enforced by a new watchdog with powers, unlike this government that hasn’t prosecuted a single case over unsafe work in the pandemic.

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