Royal Mail strike
Postal workers have been told there's no money for a proper pay rise despite profits going up and shareholders and bosses getting richer. I took time out to stand in solidarity with CWU members on strike at Rochdale's delivery office and across the country.
This government is once again bringing out some whacky ideas on controlling industrial action. These have been rejected in the past, even by Margaret Thatcher’s government, but it is not the way a modern economy should be run.
Unionised workplaces are more likely to provide decent pay, good training, and benefits. That’s why Labour will strengthen trade unions by repealing anti-union laws, including the 2016 Trade Union Act, and introducing new rights to help unions recruit and organise.
Labour will also end fire and rehire so workers can be safe in the knowledge that terms negotiated in good faith can’t be ripped up under threat of dismissal. We will ban zero-hours contracts so workers will have the right to a regular contract and predictable hours, reasonable notice of changes in shifts and wages for cancelled shifts paid in full.
And we’ll extend statutory maternity and paternity leave, and review and improve shared parental leave. We’ll make flexible working a day one right, and we’ll bring in a new ‘right to switch off’.