Labour’s post-election honeymoon will be short-lived unless it takes immediate action to deliver on workers’ rights and brings a swift end to 14 years of public sector pay restraint, the president of the TUC has said.
Matt Wrack, also the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said Sir Keir Starmer should convene a summit with unions within days to plan how a new government would deliver for workers if Labour is victorious in Thursday’s election.
“Unions should be invited in quickly to set out their priorities,” Wrack said in an interview with the Guardian as Starmer prepares for an expected landslide victory.
Wrack said there were issues that required urgent action, including delivering on Labour’s New Deal for workers, resolving long-running public sector strikes and boosting wages.
While a Starmer-led government is likely to insist that the state of the public finances means money will be tight, Wrack said union members would not wait long. “We want a pay rise. There are ways of raising taxes on the richest that would help a Labour government deliver.”
Wrack said Labour had to find a way of settling the junior doctors’ pay dispute, and would then be faced with deciding what to do about the recommendations made by public sector pay review bodies. “If there is a honeymoon for Labour, it could be short-lived unless the government responds to the pent-up anger after 14 years of pay restraint.”
Wrack said Starmer could lead the first government in decades to get rid of anti-union laws. While the measures would not be enough for the FBU, they would make life better for unions and would shift the balance of power in workplaces significantly.
The post-election summit should be the first of regular meetings between ministers and unions, he added.
In its manifesto, Labour has pledged that the New Deal for workers will be a priority, with legislation brought in within the government’s first 100 days.
In addition to clamping down on zero-hours contracts and ending “fire and rehire” practices, Labour has promised a package of employment rights and said it wants to encourage collective bargaining by giving unions easier access to workplaces. It will introduce a new duty on employers to inform workers of their right to join a union.
Unions are concerned that Labour’s New Deal for workers will be watered down as a result of lobbying from employers’ groups such as the CBI. Business lobby groups fear the plans will make the UK’s labour market less flexible.
Wrack said unions had two concerns about the plan: that Starmer might give way to pressure from employers; and that it might be delayed.
Labour could buy itself some time on pay provided it moved quickly to deliver on workers’ rights, Wrack said. “That would buy some goodwill. If they don’t move quickly enough they won’t buy as much goodwill.”
A Starmer-led government would need to take the risks of strikes seriously. “I don’t want to rush into saying there will be a winter of discontent or anything like that but a Labour government will need to listen to the unions. People want some recompense for the losses they suffered during the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.”
Action would need to be taken “pretty quickly” to help workers struggling on low incomes.
Wrack said: “The 14 years of attacks on pay are unprecedented in the modern era and a Labour government is going to have to do something about it. I don’t think the patience of union members will hold out for very long.”
