British Prime Minister Theresa May set to work out a "new
deal for workers" as she is determined to propose safeguards for "gig
economy" workers and new rights to be off work to care for relatives who
may be in need.
The PM is making every effort to sell herself to the voting
public that she is a leader who support all working people in the UK, as she
also intend to raise the National Living Wage - currently £7.50 an hour - in
line with average earnings until 2022.
The PM has once again reaffirmed that she is fully committed
to protect the rights of all workers as enshrined in EU law, even after Brexit,
as was outlined in her Article 50 triggering document.
According to the Conservatives the party’s manifesto
promises - to be unveiled in full this week - would represent the
"greatest expansion of workers' rights by any Conservative
government".
Also included in the PM’s package is a commitment to protect
workers' pensions in the wake of the BHS scandal; a new right to request leave
for training purposes; a right to leave for workers who suffer the tragedy of
losing a child; and the introduction of returnships for people coming back into
work after a period of time off.
However, the PM’s effort to tone herself as the supporter of
"ordinary working people" appears to have negated what is current on
ground, as analysis suggests that low income working families face significant
reductions in income as a result of planned cuts to benefits, according to the
Institute of Fiscal Studies.
The analysis found one million households with children and
no one in work would be £3,000 worse off, while three million working
households with children currently entitled to tax credits would be on average
£2,500 worse off. A further four million households with children not entitled
to tax credits would be £100 a year worse off.
Nevertheless, Andrew Gwynne, Labour's campaigns and
elections chair, states that Mrs May was "taking working people for
fools".
"Theresa May and her Tory government have failed to
stand up for workers, with hundreds of thousands not being paid the money owed
to them, thousands unable to get their case against their employer heard and
hundreds of complaints of employment agency malpractice going un-investigated.
"The Tories have spent the last seven years
prioritising the few, opposing Labour's proposals to give workers more rights
and overseeing wage stagnation which has left people worse off."
Also speaking on the issue, Vince Cable, the Liberal
Democrat shadow chancellor, was equally contemptuous.
"The Conservatives tried to ban workers from striking
and were blocked by the Liberal Democrats in government," said the former
business secretary, who clashed with No.10 over workers' rights in the
coalition years.
"It's clear they aren't the party of workers' rights
and that you can't trust them to care about you and your family."
Furthermore, Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB union,
was equally sceptical, saying "the greatest extensions of workers' rights
by a Tory government frankly wouldn't be that hard to achieve given recent
history".
He said the Tories should "end the public sector pay
pinch" if they really want to prove the lot of working Britain, as he
urged the Conservatives to "commit to a real living wage that people can
live on without claiming benefits - all of which Labour has pledged to
do".
Mr Roace also said: "And let's not forget, a lot of the
problems working people face day in day out were caused by Tory austerity
policies in the first place".
Pay rises in the public sector are capped at 1% a year until
2020, which could see 5.4 million public sector workers see a real-terms cut in
their wages as a decade of pay restraint and high inflation eats into their
living standards.
But Mrs May's proposals were given a cautious welcome by the
Trade Union Congress, which described the measures as a "promising set of
commitments", but said workers needed to see the details before they cast
their votes.
Mrs May, on tour in southern England, will say on Monday:
"There is only one leader that will put rights and opportunities for
working families first.
"The choice is clear: economic stability and a better
deal for workers under my Conservative team, or chaos under Jeremy
Corbyn."
