Building solidarity, stopping undercutting

The way to tackle concerns about immigration isn’t by further restrictions and exploitative new schemes, but by addressing the root cause of low pay, insecure contracts, undercutting and discrimination workers are suffering, along with cuts to public services and lack of skills training. Instead of the Immigration and Social Security Coordination Bill or the hostile environment, the TUC is calling for an approach to immigration that supports decent conditions for all, and solidarity.

We need a Brexit deal that would deliver strong rights for workers, support public investment and promote good jobs. At this stage in negotiations, we believe membership of the single market and a customs union is probably the best way to achieve this. Other countries in the single market have implemented policies that have stopped bad employers using migrant workers to undercut other workers, promoted decent treatment, ensured all workers have access to skills training and provided public services with adequate funding.

In Norway – which is in the single market but not in the EU and thus must follow the rules of the single market, including free movement of capital, goods and people – the government has worked with trade unions and employers over the implementation of free movement rules and has taken the following actions to promote good jobs and decent treatment for all:

•  It has extended collective agreements to cover sectors with a significant number of migrant workers present; these include cleaning, construction and food processing. These prevented the use of precarious contracts and ensured all workers were paid the rate for the job.
•  It has introduced ‘joint and several’ liability rules for key sectors such as construction to ensure that all subcontractors in supply chains can be held responsible for employment conditions.
•  It has brought in strict health and safety card requirements to prevent bogus self-employment in construction.
•  It has provided above the EU average in funding for skills training, particularly in shortage occupations, as well as a developed programme of apprenticeships.

Norwegian governments have also prioritised spending on public services in contrast the UK’s austerity agenda. Norway came top of the World Economic Forum’s Inclusive Development Index in 2018 for its strong investment in public services and employment protections, among other indicators. The UK, by contrast, ranks 21^st on the index due to lower levels of investment in healthcare and lack of labour market protections.21

As a result of such policies, there is a high level of public support for free movement in Norway with the majority of citizens agreeing that immigration makes a positive contribution to the country.22

The TUC calls on the government to implement similar policies to ensure that, however workers voted in the referendum, they get a fair deal at work, quality public services and the opportunity to get the training needed to progress at work.

Below we outline the six areas for action the government must take.

     1. An end to the hostile environment

The TUC calls on the government to:

• scrap the Immigration and Social Security Coordination bill and any plans to introduce a more restrictive visa system
• repeal the Immigration Act (2014) and Immigration Act (2016) to end requirements for document checks in health, housing, drivers’ licenses and banking as well as pre-emptive document checks in the workplace
• separate immigration status and employment rights so all workers can claim rights at work
• unilaterally guarantee the right to remain for EU citizens in the UK. This must include rights at work and the right to continue to claim social security entitlements.

    2. Ban zero-hours contracts and increase workers’ rights

The TUC calls on the government to:

• extend existing rights to all those in work – there should be the legal presumption that everyone qualifies for the full set of employee rights, placing the onus on the employer to prove that this is not the case
• ban the use of zero-hours contracts, and ensure all workers receive premium pay for any non-contract hours and compensation when shifts are cancelled at short notice
• ban bogus self-employment
• provide workers with a right to positive flexible working from day one of a job, with employers required to advertise all jobs on that basis
• provide workers with protection from unfair dismissal
• promote awareness of employment rights and the importance of joining a trade union – the TUC has produced guidance in 21 languages online.23 This should be highlighted during the official application process for ”settled status” run by the Home Office.

• 21WEF link
• 22Meardi, Guglielmo (2017) What Does Migration Control Mean? The link between migration and labour market regulations in Norway, Switzerland and Canada, available at: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/research/irru/wpir/wpir_109.pdf
• 23TUC (2018) Working in the UK Guide, available at: tuc.org.uk/workingintheuk

3. Restore collective bargaining and increase workers’ rights

The TUC calls on the government to:

• establish joint industrial councils across all sectors of the economy which bring together unions and employers. These would negotiate sectoral collective agreements on pay and terms and conditions for the sector
• provide the right for trade unions to access workplaces
• ensure compulsory representation of workers on company boards
• ensure all workers have the right to be accompanied by a union representative
• ensure all workers have the right to paid time off for union duties for all workers
• establish ‘joint and several liability’ rules so all subcontractors along supply chains can be held accountable for treatment of workers.

Collective agreements prevent undercutting

Unite and GMB’s agreement on Ferrybridge Multifuel 2

Unite and GMB agreed with the two Polish companies involved in constructing the Ferrybridge Multifuel 2 power station in West Yorkshire that they would follow the National Agreement for the Construction and Engineering Industry (NACEI). Part of this agreement says that ‘posted’ and other workers recruited from abroad must be paid and treated on the same terms and conditions as local workers. This meant that when the companies brought Polish workers on ‘posted’ contracts to work on the site, they were treated equally with other workers. This has fostered solidarity between workers on the Ferrybridge site, supported by Unite and GMB recruiting Polish workers into both unions. These workers are supported by union officials based on site.

4. Skill up the whole workforce

The TUC calls on the government to:

• increase investment in both workforce and out of work training to the EU average within the next five years
• introduce a new life-long learning account, providing the opportunity for people to learn throughout their working lives
• give trade unions a proper voice in the reformed apprenticeship system
• establish revitalised sectoral skills councils with representation from unions and business that would look at how to drive up pay, conditions, skills and productivity across an industry
• restore training bursaries for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals
• invest in the training and skills of workers and young people by boosting funding for our college system and doing more to enable workers to access learning opportunities – this should include an expanded National Retraining Scheme, a lifelong learning entitlement, and ring-fenced funding for a fair pay deal for college staff
• provide an entitlement to time to learn, especially for workers with low skills or in increasingly vulnerable occupations.

5. A Brexit deal that delivers for workers

The TUC calls on the government to guarantee:

• a Brexit deal that provides legal assurances that workers in the UK continue to be covered by the same rights as workers in the EU
• a Brexit deal that ensures ongoing tariff and barrier-free trade
• no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and to uphold the Good Friday agreement.

6. Fund quality public services

The TUC calls on the government to:

• end austerity
• provide new investment so our schools, hospitals and councils can deliver the services we need
• fully fund real pay increases for public service workers
• bring back key industries into public hands, including rail, the post office and water.