Socialist candidate slams Labour for Worker’s Rights U-turn
One of the few redeeming features of Labour’s policy platform was their ‘New Deal for Working People’ which included commitments to a real-living wage, a ban on zero-hours contracts and enshrining a ‘right to switch off’ in law.
But on 1st May, anonymous spokespeople for the Labour leadership began the process of briefing the big-business lobby about its plans to make a series of U-turns on worker’s rights over the coming weeks, in Starmer’s latest attempt to suck-up to corporate interests.
Justice at Work
Taking to social media, Asa Jones – the Social Justice Party candidate for Scarborough and Whitby – slammed Labour for their latest U-turn saying:
“On International Workers Day, Starmer is busy briefing the corporate lobby with promises to U-turn on his current pledges to ban zero-hours contracts and enshrine a ‘right to switch off’ into law.
People in Scarborough & Whitby need an MP who will fight for justice at work and not cower to the interests of the super-rich.”
As a young person who has worked in the local tourist industry, Asa says he understands first-hand how low-pay and insecure work is contributing to the mass-exodus of young people and families from his costal community and believes a strengthening of worker’s rights and a real-living wage are crucial to making the Yorkshire Coast a place where working-class people can afford to live.
More spin from Labour
Speaking to the Financial Times, Labour insiders described plans to roll-back on the promise to enshrine a ‘right to switch off’ into law by making it part of a code of conduct and exempting small businesses. Labour’s previous claim to ban zero-hours contracts is also said to be watered down over the coming weeks.
Despite these detailed reports of Labour’s behind-the-scenes promises to big-businesses, a Labour spokesperson – speaking to the Morning Star – insisted there would be “no watering down” of the party’s policies.
The Morning Star itself then pointed out that Labour has already watered down its promises regarding a worker’s rights package when it dropped its commitment to ‘fair pay agreements’ covering all industrial sectors and limiting them to just the social care sector. It seems fair to say that anyone trapped in low-pay and insecure work should pay more attention to what Labour does than what its anonymous spokespeople say it’ll do when considering who to vote for at the next election.
Unlike Labour and the Conservatives, who are united in their capitulation to the interests of big-business, the Social Justice Party will campaign on a comprehensive platform of expanding workers rights. Including delivering a real-living wage, the immediate reversal of all anti-union legislation, banning zero-hours contracts outright and promoting worker-led workplace democracy in both the public and private sectors.
