With the election just a week away we thought you would be interested to know what the various political parties are saying in their manifestos about employment law. Selected policies from each of the major parties are as follows:
Conservatives
- A tougher threshold for strike action in the health, transport, fire and education sectors.
- Create an extra 3 million apprenticeships in the next five years.
- Promote full gender equality by requiring companies with more than 250 employees to publish gender pay differences.
Labour
- Abolish the Employment Tribunal fees system but it is not clear whether this means the end of fees.
- Workers who work “regular hours” in their first 12 weeks of employment are given a “regular contract” and not exploited through zero hours contracts.
- Doubling paid paternity leave from two to four weeks and increasing paternity pay to more than £260 a week.
- Introducing a new Apprenticeship Guarantee giving all 18 year olds who achieve the “right grades” access to a high quality apprenticeship.
- Reverse the laws on employee shareholdings introduced in 2013.
- Review TUPE.
Liberal Democrats
- Review fees to ensure that they are not a barrier to justice.
- Enable workers to have the right to request a fixed term contract in place of a zero hours contract.
- Making paternity and shared leave rights from the outset of employment.
- Offering a further month of paternity leave for fathers on a use it or lose it basis.
- Encourage wider participation in trade union ballots through electronic voting systems.
- Encouraging companies to have up to 30% female board members and at least one member from a black, Asian or minority ethnic.
UKIP
- Businesses who employ 50 people or more must give workers (who request it) on zero hours contracts a full or part-time contract after one year, if they request it.
- It wants to exit the European Union but instead encompass those European rights into UK legislation.
- Repeal the Human Rights Act and the Agency Worker Regulations.
Green
- Reduce fees to make them accessible for workers.
- Phase in a 35 hour week.
How will you vote?
Written by
Edward Aston
30th April 2015