Sam Ward, Leicester Socialist Party
Starmer’s Labour was elected just over a year ago promising a ‘crackdown’ on zero-hour contracts. The Employment Rights Bill, after passing through the Commons, entered the House of Lords and has been amended. Tory Lords took issue with parts of the bill including the legal requirement for bosses to offer guaranteed hours to a worker.
What happens now? The bill will be passed back and forth between the Commons and the Lords until they reach an agreement or, in truth, until it has been watered down enough. It is well-known that Lords and MPs in Labour and the Tories have big business breathing down the backs of their necks, needing to be satisfied that these ‘workers’ reforms’ won’t hurt their bottom line.
A ‘practical and balanced’ (towards the capitalists) approach will be the excuse given by Labour and their peers when promises of strengthening workers’ rights aren’t followed through. It has been over a year since Keir Starmer was elected, there’s still no real improvements to workers’ rights and all the anti-union laws are still in force. Earlier this year, the same government intervened on a Saturday afternoon to save British Steel by passing all stages of legislation, including through the House of Lords, in a day. What excuse could they have for not taking similar measures for a manifesto promise that would improve the lives of millions of workers?
Fire and rehire
Labour promised to ban ‘fire and rehire’, the very same loophole that the Labour-controlled Birmingham City Council is currently using to try and force bin workers to accept a massive pay cut. But in the bill, ‘fire and rehire’ may be allowed by companies or organisations who claim they’re in dire circumstances – like cash-strapped councils will say they’re in after years of implementing Tory cuts.
Starmer will shed crocodile tears when those pesky Lords try to stop Labour from restricting ‘fire and rehire’ and banning zero-hour contracts. We know from the experience of the Birmingham bin strikes that Labour doesn’t care about workers.
Labour is no longer the voice of the workers. Alongside their big business backers, they will continue attacking workers in Birmingham and across the UK where they are in power. Workers need a political party we can call our own, to fight back against the capitalist politicians. The 700,000 people that have signed up to ‘Your Party’ have shown how many of us have come to the conclusion that Labour will not deliver for us. Steps need to be taken for us to have a party of our own.
Such a new party, with the direct involvement of the working class and the trade unions, would fight to ban of zero-hour contracts and scrap all the anti-trade union laws – and put power into the hands of the workers.
