Shackling bad bosses by rebalancing the scales in favour of exploited, under-paid hired hands is the jewel in the crown of the government’s landmark King’s Speech on Wednesday.
Of 35 Bills – from proposals to build more houses to axing hereditary peers in the House of Lords – bold plans to make work pay better is potentially the most significant.
It’s also a likely flashpoint, with business groups plotting to lobby like hell to water down protections while anti-trade union prejudice is in the DNA of many hostile Conservative MPs.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak is understandably confident that Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves will hold the line, despite courting corporate Britain and entrepreneurs in order to turbo-charge economic growth.
Starmer, unlike Tony Blair, is union-friendly and trade union leaders remark privately that he will disagree with them firmly but is never hostile.
Polling has confirmed that stronger workplace rights are very popular, with widespread support for raising the £11.44 national minimum wage to a £12 real living wage. There’s also a decent business case for the fair treatment of employees, as sweat shop firms rarely do well in the long run. And the new deal for working people reinforces the need to ensure the proceeds of growth are shared reasonably.
If Labour sink the P&Os of this world – remember the ferry operator knowingly broke the law to replace 786 sacked crew with £4.87-an-hour cheap foreign labour – the government will definitely be improving life for working people.
Governing won’t be plain sailing. Left-winger John McDonnell’s plan to force a vote on axing the Tories’ £2.5billion two-child benefit cap – which plunges 1.6 million kids into poverty – is a sign of choppy waters ahead.
But the King’s Speech is Starmer’s golden opportunity to establish a direction of travel and to increase momentum.
Delivering at work what Deputy PM Angela Rayner, an architect of the package, adoringly calls “my baby” would be a down payment on the better future Labour promises.