TRADE unions yesterday reacted angrily to the latest attack on employment rights announced by Business Secretary Vince Cable.
The TUC warned: ‘Government plans to reduce payouts for unfair dismissals will do nothing to boost economic growth, and make it easier for bad employers to mistreat their staff.’
Under the government’s proposals, the cap on payouts for unfair dismissal will fall from £72,300 to a year’s pay.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘This will feel like another slap in the face following the government’s decision to bring in fees for employment tribunals.’
He added: ‘Making it easier for bad employers to get away with misconduct is not the way to kick-start our economy and will not create a single new job.’
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: ‘These “Beecroft lite” proposals are still a blatant attack on workers’ rights.
‘The UK already has some of the weakest labour laws in Europe. Weighing the scales heavily in favour of bosses, who can hire and fire at will, will only fuel insecurity, lengthening the dole queues and making the UK’s damaging recession worse.
‘Unison will also be campaigning hard against plans to amend the TUPE rules that protect workers’ rights when they are transferred from one employer to another.
‘We suspect that in the name of simplification the coalition really want to make it easier to transfer public services to the private sector, and spark a race to the bottom on pay, terms and conditions.’
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: ‘This is a government that has not one clue about how to create jobs, but is certainly skilled at spreading insecurity and fear in the workplace.
‘We are extremely concerned about their plans to look at the transfer of undertakings (TUPE) legislation. Given the government’s inherent anti-worker bias, we fear that this vital measure, often the only thing protecting vulnerable workers during takeovers, will be axed too.’
Teachers union NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said the proposals ‘represent an unprecedented and unacceptable attack on the employment rights of teachers and other ordinary working people.
‘However the coalition seeks to spin this announcement, this emphasises the contempt for working people which pervades the coalition’s policies.’
GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: ‘The policy will have precisely the opposite effect on jobs than the stated intention of the government.
‘So, as well as being wrong in principle to weaken employment rights, it also makes no sense in a weak economy to create uncertainty among workers, as consumers that will stop them spending.’
