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Worker protections in the UK compared to the rest of the OECD

Report: Falling behind on labour rights

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The Employment Rights Act introduces major reforms to UK employment law, with changes being implemented in stages from December 2025 through to 2027.

Employment Rights Act

Preventing unfair trade and promoting rights in global supply chains

The campaign to promote workers’ rights in trade deals must be global.

For decades we have witnessed the effects of trade deals that don’t contain effective protections for workers’ rights- they make it easier for companies to locate themselves in countries where wages are lower as trade unions are much weaker or banned This allows companies to gain a competitive advantage based on worker exploitation.

World leaders and working people are all calling for the trade rules to be rewritten, but whether strong protections for workers’ rights will be at the heart of new trade rules is yet to be seen.

The UK can stop the race to the bottom by building stronger relationships with trading partners who have strong protections for workers’ rights. The TUC is working with trade unions globally to push for workers’ rights to be protected in trade agreements with the UK.

The TUC is working with trade unions across the world and through ETUC and ITUC to push for workers’ rights to be included in global trade rules set by governments around the world, for trade unions to be involved in trade negotiations to ensure they promote workers’ rights, human rights, gender equality, Sustainable Development Goals, good jobs and redress inequalities between the Global North and Global South.

Where human and trade union rights are being violated, the TUC opposes trade deals with these countries.

Global supply chains

As workers, consumers and users of public services, we are connected to millions of workers around the world through global value chains.

Violations of labour and human rights and environmental harms are widespread in global value chains. The voluntary approach to corporate responsibility and accountability hasn’t worked. We've seen  Boohoo’s sweatshops in Leicester; allegations of debt bondage and physical abuse by workers making rubber gloves for use in the NHS, at Supermax in Malaysia;  deforestation in Brazil; and evidence of Uyghur forced labour in solar panel supply chains, among myriad other harms

This experience, combined with analysis of current UK legislation, is why the TUC is calling for mandatory human and labour rights and environmental due diligence legislation.