A better normal

When the pandemic hit, unions and business worked together to help deliver a package of economic support through the furlough scheme that protected millions of jobs. It was notable that Rishi Sunak thanked both the TUC and CBI in his speech announcing the job retention scheme – and stood with Frances O’Grady and Carolyn Fairbairn when he announced that support would continue in November 2020.

The labour market now faces different challenges, with skills and labour shortages providing significant disruption to business operations. Of those businesses reporting labour shortages, over 10 per cent said they had had to pause trading either some (9.7 per cent) or all (3 per cent of their business) in December.  Many of these shortages -notably in logistics – are in sectors where unions have been reporting poor working conditions for years, and asking for these to be addressed to aid recruitment and retention.   Workers remain trapped in a more than decade long wage squeeze, despite pockets of pay-rises,

Addressing these challenges, and achieving the Government’s stated ambition of a ‘high wage, high productivity’ economy, requires bringing together those with expertise in what’s really going on in the world of work. The government should convene a ‘working better’ taskforce to advise on how to achieve the mission of a high wage, high productivity economy. The taskforce should:

• Be chaired by a Cabinet Level Minister;
• Be modelled on the Low Pay Commission, bringing together three worker representatives, three business representatives, and two independent experts. The worker and businesses representatives should include the heads of the TUC and CBI;
• Meet three times, reporting before the financial statement in the autumn, on;
  • A plan to ensure that workers and businesses have the skills they need to succeed in the post covid economy;
  • A plan to ensure a ‘race to the top’ on labour standards and productivity; and
  • Recommendations for how to achieve the Government’s stated ambition of a high wage economy.