Bosses of Britain’s biggest companies are to be warned that Labour’s workers’ rights bonanza will make it more expensive for them to run their firms and lead to more strikes.
Business leaders will be told by the Tories that the landmark reforms to be debated for the first time by MPs this week will ‘hinder investment and job creation’.
In a letter that will be sent to the chief executives of every FTSE100 company, they will also be alerted to lengthy consultations on the proposals that could leave them facing years of uncertainty.
The warning comes ahead of the Employment Rights Bill reaching the Commons on Tuesday.
It will enable millions more workers to sue their employers from day one on a job, while staff will also be entitled to claim sick pay on the first day they fall ill and it will become harder for managers to turn down requests by staff to work from home or do fewer hours.
The legislation will also hand more power to trade unions, making it far easier for them to stage walkouts by scrapping years of anti-strike legislation introduced by the Tories.
Setting out the proposals in a letter to business chiefs, Shadow Business Secretary Kevin Hollinrake will say: ‘Labour’s package of regulation will result in a tsunami of flawed regulation that will hinder investment and job creation.‘
The legislation will be introduced partially through the Employment Rights Bill, and subsequent guidance and secondary legislation, and likely more primary legislation further down the line, none of which has been scrutinised by business, and will hand powers to the Trade Unions the like of which we have not seen since the 1970s.
‘For you, Labour’s package of regulation, together with the mooted increase to National Insurance Contributions for employers, will make it more expensive to run a business, make your workforce less flexible and unleash waves of low threshold strike, zero warning strikes.’
He will pledge to make sure the CEOs’ fears are raised in Parliament, adding: ‘It is therefore important that you make any concerns you have about the Employment Rights Bill known.
‘Soon, the stream of consultations on the measures will open which may drag on for years, leaving you and your business facing uncertainty.’
Meanwhile the head of the trade union movement has urged MPs on all sides to back the bill.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: ‘Everyone who works for a living deserves to earn a decent living – and to be treated with dignity and respect.
‘The Employment Rights Bill is an opportunity to make work pay for millions and to give working people vital rights and protections.’
Last night, a spokesman for the Department for Business and Trade said: ‘This government is unashamedly pro-worker and pro-business, and we have engaged extensively with businesses and unions on this legislation and will continue to do so.
‘As our International Investment Summit showed, the Government is already driving investment and creating a pro-business environment to deliver high-quality jobs.
‘Many businesses already do right by their workers due to the higher productivity this brings. This Bill will ensure that workplace rights are fit for a modern economy, deliver economic growth and raise living standards.’
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