Make It Easier To 'Hire Not Fire' – Labour

A number of policies being described as 'Cameron's War On Employment Rights' by one newspaper, has sparked a Labour MP to urge the Government to make it easier to "hire not fire".

Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna said in response to reports that the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition Government were to make an announcement weakening employment regulations on Wednesday, that their plans were not credible.

On Wednesday afternoon, Vince Cable will set out a number of changes to employment law, reducing redundancies consultations and limiting what can be submitted to employment tribunals, prompting some to call the Independent to accuse the Government of conducting a "War on Employment Rights".

The coalition's plans are part of their "war on red tape" that has largely been made up of policies stripping away rights from workers to save businesses money, they claim.

Last month, a leaked Government report by Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist and Conservative Party donor, sparked outcry after it proposed the complete removal of the right to claim unfair dismal.

Responding to the recent surge of Government employment changes, Mr Umunna said that the biggest block to growth was the lack of confidence in the economy, and that making it easier to fire employees would not help people spend more.

“Watering down people's rights at work by doubling the service requirement to claim for unfair dismissal from one to two years is not a substitute for a credible plan for growth. As organisations like the CIPD, the professional body for personnel and development, have confirmed, this isn’t the way to boost jobs and growth. There is no empirical evidence to suggest such a move will boost job creation and it is highly likely that this change will lead to more people bringing discrimination claims instead which have no service requirement.

“Instead of seeking to make it easier to fire people the government should be looking to make it easier to hire people at a time when their reckless economic policies have pushed up unemployment to a 17 year high. Labour’s five point plan for jobs includes a national insurance holiday for small firms taking on extra workers.

“We have said the employment tribunal process needs reform in the interests of both employers and employees and we will look carefully at the proposals on tribunal rules and procedures to assess whether the proposed changes will improve the current system.”

(DW)