Liberal Democrat employment minister, Ed Davey, announced plans to change labour laws yesterday, to enable employers to sack large numbers of workers easily.
The Tory-LibDem proposals centre on cutting compensation payments for discrimination in the workplace; reducing the current requirement of employers that consultations over collective redundancy are at least 90 days; and diluting the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment regulations (TUPE) which protects the pay and conditions of public sector workers transferred to private companies.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: ‘There is one community that certainly will not be toasting the coalition’s first anniversary – working people.
‘For them, May 2010 was certainly nothing to celebrate.
‘The business department under Vince Cable’s supine direction is cultivating a disgraceful reputation as a “do nothing” department when it comes to saving jobs, let alone creating the tens of thousands needed, especially for those aged 16-to-24.
‘If the 90-day consultation period is swept away, giving workers and companies a small window in which they can save jobs, then this shameful reputation will be cemented.
‘And where exactly is the job creation dividend to be garnered from dismantling TUPE?
‘These regulations offer only slender protection on pay as it is – they can do nothing to protect a worker’s pension during takeover, but they can help to retain much-needed standards in the workplace.
‘This government is now in thrall to Thatcherism.’
Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis, said: ‘The Tory review of employment law will hit ordinary working people hard.
‘The government is weighting the jobs market heavily in favour of bosses, who will be able to hire and fire their staff at will.
‘The Tories have already made plans to tear the employment appeals tribunal system to shreds, making it much harder for workers to challenge unfair treatment.
‘Now people stand to have their compensation capped.
‘If companies want to avoid tribunals, a much easier way would be to treat their staff more fairly.
‘Plans to slash the redundancy consultation period will mean bosses can rip up employment contracts and fire large numbers of staff in as little as one month.
‘Short circuiting this process will not allow enough time for unions and management to discuss alternative plans to job losses and avoid compulsory redundancies.
‘TUPE rights give workers protection on terms and conditions if their job is transferred to another company.
‘Given the Tories pledge to sell off large swathes of public services, this means thousands of workers could be at the mercy of profit-driven companies, who will want to strip terms and conditions down in a race to the bottom.
‘The Tories have not even bothered to disguise this review as fair – It is unashamedly on the side of big business.
‘We are astonished that the government has not taken a more constructive approach, and will be seeking urgent talks on this review.’
