Leaving the EU could mean leaving our rights behind
Workers’ rights are fundamental in preserving relations of cooperation amongst European countries. Their imposition reflects and sustains a civilising vision in which states trade competition for the common good. Without a uniform set of employment rights, there would be a race to the bottom: countries would compete to slash workplace protections in the hope of encouraging investment.
A similar effect can be seen at the domestic level. When EU rights become enshrined in UK legislation, they prevent employers exploiting their employees and provide workers with dignity; some examples of which include:
1) Work/life balance: the EU’s Working Time Directive (1998) guarantees daily rest breaks, a weekly maximum of 48 hours work-time (unless you opt out), and annual paid leave of 28 days. In addition, its Parent Leave and Pregnant Workers Directives both enable parents and carers to spend more time with their children.
2) Equality: by furthering our right to equal pay (via Article 157 and the Equal Pay Directive) and extending sex and discrimination laws, the EU has become a crucial vehicle for promoting equality in the UK.
3) Collectivism: notwithstanding recent incursions, the EU has by and large encouraged collective bargaining systems and recognised the importance of trade unions. Of particular relevance is its promotion of consultative management approaches; the Collective Redundancies Directive, for example, provides unions with rights that are crucial for protecting workers during periods of outsourcing or redundancy.
4) Safety: in addition to protecting the growing number of workers in insecure employment (dubbed the ‘precariat’), the EU has 24 Directives to protect employees’ health and safety in the workplace.
A case study: Lancashire
Boris, Nigel, and other leading proponents of Brexit may not benefit from these rights. But they are crucial for protecting the millions of people who, thanks to the Tories’ bogus ‘living wage’, are struggling to pay their bills despite working excessive hours.
A quick examination of the North West, home to my own constituency of Hyndburn, speaks volumes. Working people have been subjected to an increase in job insecurity and poor pay under the Conservatives. Since 2010, the number of people working excessive hours in the North West has risen by 17% while real wages have fallen by 8.9%. EU rights are therefore a crucial bulwark against the Tories’ intention to eradicate employment protections for those who need them most; 2,000 jobless residents in St Helens, for example, have benefited from the European Social Fund.
As well as benefiting from EU schemes which serve the entire UK – the Youth Employment Initiative, for example, provides €270m to promote young people’s integration into the labour market – Lancashire receives additional EU funding as a ‘transition’ region (where GDP per capita is 75-90% of the EU average). Again, this offers a significant safeguard against Tory objectives. The Government has already presided over a redistribution of funding from the North to Conservative seats in the South, meaning that the EU provides a mechanism for ensuring the North isn’t sacrificed on the altar of Conservative self-interest.
Brexit: a needless loss
Much of Vote Leave’s rebuttal to these claims focuses on the UK’s provision of employment rights beyond the scope of EU regulation. Certainly it’s true that thanks to Labour governments the UK has a significant body of employment legislation, some of which goes beyond the minimum requirements imposed by the EU. However, this fails to recognise that the EU has been pioneering in its promotion of a social model; it not only provides a minimum standard of rights, but also acts as a vehicle for progressive innovation. There is also no guarantee that the currently government has any interest whatsoever in extending employment protection legislation.
Should we leave, we will rue the loss of those instruments which have been at the forefront of developing this model. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has developed favourable case law and collectivist institutions such as the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and European Works Councils (EWCs) have ensured EU decision-making is far more receptive to union influence than in the UK. While the ETUC has enabled British trade unions to influence EU policy, EWCs have ensured that multinational companies are accountable to their workers by bringing together employee representatives from different countries.
A vote to leave would be a vote to turn our back on these institutions. They will be eradicated under the Tories. As John Major has previously said, the NHS is about as safe with Boris and Nigel as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python. His words ring no less true when it comes to our rights at work.
