Key workers open the door
So how exactly did the union exert this influence over such an all-encompassing piece of legislation? And when did that journey start?
Like Mark, Katrina Murray was elected as a new MP last June, in her case for Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch – one of 37 new Labour MPs in Scotland. For her, the ERB “has been 10 years in the making”, specifically from the general election in 2015 and the Tory government’s preparation of what would become the Trade Union Act 2016, which dealt a crushing blow to trade union freedoms.
“The immediate commitment, back then, to repeal much of that legislation has been an ongoing part of the dialogue leading to the Employment Rights Bill,” Katrina says.
Mark recalls that the dialogue on workers’ rights, between the unions and Labour, escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The first meaty conversations that I had about this were in late 2020. We were still in and out of lockdown. The conversation was about ‘clap for carers’, clap for the NHS, it was about key workers. I think there was a realisation of two things. One, a lot of those key workers were in low-paid and insecure jobs, who didn’t have the protections everybody deserves in their working life. And two, that not only were they being asked to go above and beyond during COVID, but they had been let down for a very long time.
“That was the gateway in, the ambition to deliver for these people. But also broadening out from that to clear problems in the economy. Whether it’s sick pay, paternity leave, maternity rights, day one rights, whether it’s how the minimum wage does not necessarily create a salary that you can live on, these were things that didn’t just affect key workers but a huge swathe of people in society.”
Sitting round the table
Fundamentally, for me, this is rooted in the actual lives and experiences of working people. I can see the fingerprints of UNISON members on individual lines in this document. And that’s fantastic.
As head of Labour Link, Mark was one of the UNISON representatives involved in all of the working groups that developed the New Deal for Working People, from late 2020 through to September 2021, when it was presented to the Labour Party conference.
The ideas contained in that green paper were further developed and refined along a path that included Labour’s national policy forum in July 2023 (with UNISON playing a full part as an affiliated union) and another party conference in September of that year, leading to the publication of Make Work Pay at the outset of the general election campaign in May 2024, and the party’s manifesto commitment to deliver it.
With Labour Link’s coordination, UNISON lay leaders and staff were involved at every stage of that process. Mark says that senior members played an integral role, especially at the national policy forum. “We have people with clear, lived experience, and a huge amount of extremely specific knowledge. It’s a huge asset to be able to go into a meeting with a member who can explain what it’s like to be a care worker, what it’s like to work two jobs, how things work in Wales versus how things work in England, and talking about the lived experience of Black workers.
“Fundamentally, for me, this is rooted in the actual lives and experiences of working people. I can see the fingerprints of UNISON members on individual lines in this document. And that’s fantastic.”
At the same time, the union’s extremely experienced policy and legal officers were “grinding through the detail” that was taking shape. As examples, Mark cites UNISON social care experts going through the specific wording of a fair pay agreement in social care, and legal officers “rigorously testing things like the single enforcement body, or what day one rights could look like, practically, against the experience of case law and the sorts of cases that come through the workplace.”
A very visible example of UNISON’s influence came in the form of Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader and lifelong UNISON member, who spearheaded the New Deal. Says Mark: “Having someone leading this who has literally gone from being a care worker and UNISON rep, to an MP, to deputy prime minister, who understands the agenda so well, has been incredibly important.”
But all the while, Labour Link was also opening a dialogue about the budding proposals with the wider UNISON membership. “Whether it was Angela coming to speak about the New Deal at national delegate conference or having events at Labour Link regional and national forums, or the self-organised group conferences, we were constantly trying to bring in the voices of members.”
