Angela Rayner defends drive to improve workers’ rights

Alan Jones, Press Association Industrial Correspondent

Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has defended the drive to boost workers’ rights, describing it as a “first step” in the Government’s plans affecting the workplace.

She told the annual conference of Unison that driving living standards for working class people should still be the mission of the Labour Government.

She told delegates at the Brighton conference that the Government had done many good things to bring that about, but added: “Let’s be honest, I’m under no illusions that people are queuing up to thank us.

“People have turned to populists and nationalists because for all we have done, it has not been enough to fix the crisis they face.

“They are impatient for change. So are you, and so am I. Living standards are barely higher than they were a decade and a half ago.

“Growth isn’t just low, it also fails to benefit most people, places and businesses.

“Yet when people have more to spend in their local high streets, businesses have higher revenues; in turn, they can hire more workers, and a community prospers.

“That is not just morally right but economically too.”

She said the test for Labour was to show it could run a government that delivers by standing up to “the vested interests ripping us off”.

“Because for too long, Britain has been on the wrong path. A path that has damaged communities and drained away power from ordinary people.

“Once again, working-class people are paying the price for decisions they did not make and crises they did not cause.”

She won applause by saying that the Employment Rights Act was the first step in the Government’s plan to Make Work Pay.

“Now is the time to take the next steps, starting – but not ending – with a fair pay agreement in social care.

“A new partnership approach, driving up standards, improving training and, as a former home help, let me say tackling issues like travel time as well.

“Because fairness means enforcing the rules not ripping them up; people who follow those rules and contribute to our society should be able to trust the system in which they work.

“That is why it is time for a sector-wide visa too – not just to empower those giving care, but support those receiving it.”

She said migrant care workers were “trapped” in a system that does not protect them.

“It is the same problem we see across the economy. It is why we need an active, interventionist government to promote good jobs that pay decent wages.”

She added that the Employment Rights Act gave millions of workers higher pay, new rights and protections, and an end to exploitative zero hours contracts.

Ms Rayner made fleeting mention of Thursday’s by-election in Makerfield, saying: “A choice between Andy Burnham and Nigel Farage’s sexist puppet. It is a fight we must win.

“But that is just the start. We must finish the job on workers’ rights, not shy away from taking on union-busting bosses.”