KEIR Starmer has said there will be “no watering down” of the New Deal for Workers despite union bosses calling the latest draft “unrecognisable”.
The Labour Party leader said he's “absolutely committed” to a new deal for working people regardless of Unite the Union saying his party is “rowing back on its pledges” after reviewing the latest draft of the proposals.
Starmer and the Scottish Labour group have pledged a New Deal for Working People should they come into power at Westminster after the next General Election.
These policy promises included a ban on zero-hours contracts and introducing parental leave and sick pay from day one which Starmer has said, “will be the biggest levelling up of workers’ rights in a generation”.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour fury as Keir Starmer waters down workers' rights plan
He also promised “there will be no watering down” of the proposed pledges after the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), Scotland’s leading trade unionist which represents more than half a million members, warned the new deal should be delivered “in full, without equivocation”.
When asked about the New Deal Starmer said: “I think people should always be treated with dignity and respect at work but I also think it’s essential for economic growth, because every good employer knows that to get better economic growth we need to treat our workforce properly.”
He also said the plan presents “no threat” to business owners and added that “good employers are doing much of this already”.
“So, no watering down, 100% committed to it – and it is about respect and dignity but it’s also a story about economic growth and taking our country forward,” he added.
Speaking at the UK Labour Party’s conference last year Angela Rayner pledged to personally implement the plans of the New Deal within 100 days of taking office.
However, the FT previously reported that senior Labour officials said they would not implement the proposals within 100 days, but instead intend only table draft legislation within that period.
The same report also said Labour would not completely ban zero-hours contracts and parental leave will not be brought in “from day one”, but rather only consulted on.
Responding to the most recent draft of the documents last week, the leader of Unite Sharon Graham, said the New Deal for Workers is “unrecognisable” compared to the original proposals.
She said: “It looks like all the warnings Unite made earlier about the dangers of Labour rowing back on its pledges for the New Deal for Workers have been proved right.
“This new Labour document on the New Deal, issued to the unions on Monday, is a row back on a row back.
“It is totally unrecognisable from the original proposals produced with the unions. Unrecognisable. Workers will see through this and mark this retreat after retreat as a betrayal.
“This new document is turning what was a real new deal for workers into a charter for bad bosses.
READ MORE: STUC cautions Labour against 'weakening workers' rights pledges'
“Labour don’t want a law against fire and rehire, and they are effectively ripping up the promise of legislation on a new deal for workers in its first 100 days.
“Instead, we have codes of conduct and pledges of consultation with big business. Likewise, the proposal to legislate against zero-hour contracts is watered down to almost nothing.
“In truth this new document is not worthy of discussion.
“All unions must now demand that Labour changes course and puts the original New Deal for Workers back on the table.”
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