The IER is delighted to launch our new podcast. In this 6-part series, our labour law experts will be dissecting the new employment legislation brought forward by Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government.
As many of our readers will know, the IER have been informing the debate on improving and strengthening labour laws for workers over the last 30 years. This body of work (undertaken on a voluntary basis by our labour law academics and lawyers) provided the blueprint for Labour's green paper on employment rights, New Deal for Workers document, their National Policy Forum document, and now their 'Making Work Pay' proposals, which are being brought to life by the Government's proposed Employment Rights Bill. Join us, as our experts consider how the proposals in the Bill measure up, and as we highlight the pitfalls and the possibilities the Bill may pose for the UK's 33 million workers.
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The Employment Rights Bill: A New Era For Workers?
Season 1 · Episode 1
Thursday, October 24, 2024 • Duration 33:20
What will Labour's new employment legislation bring for workers and trade unions?
In this insightful episode, Carolyn Jones Vice President of the Institute of Employment Rights is joined by Lord John Hendy KC and Professor Keith Ewing to discuss the imperative need for comprehensive reforms in UK labour laws.
Reflecting on changes since the Thatcher era, they explore critical issues such as sectoral collective bargaining, the establishment of a Ministry of Labour, and alignment with international legal standards.
Key topics include the Labour Party’s new Employment Rights Bill, the impact of weakened trade unions, the controversial nine-month probation period, and specific cases like the P&O Ferries dismissals.
The discussion emphasises the importance of effective enforcement mechanisms, protecting workers' rights, and the political dynamics influencing these legislative changes.
Listeners are encouraged to engage in the debate over these pressing labour law reforms.
About The Institute for Employment Rights
The IER aims to develop modern employment laws and offers publications, briefings, and conference papers.
Supporters can subscribe and receive newsletters at www.ier.org.uk.
Episode Chapters:
00:00 The Employment Rights Bill: A New Era For Workers?
Getting The Bill Right: Lessons From Legislation Past
Season 1 · Episode 2
Friday, November 1, 2024 • Duration 31:17
How can the experience of prior legislation help get the best out of Labour's new Employment Rights Bill?
And will the Care Sector be the new flag-bearer for improved terms and conditions?
Carolyn Jones, Senior Vice President of the Institute of Employment Rights, leads a detailed discussion on Labour's new Employment Rights Bill.
Joined by IER Vice President Professor Lydia Hayes and Executive Committee member Sarah Veale, the panel examines past legislative experiences, challenges in drafting effective employment laws, and the need for precise legal wording.
Special focus is given to the radical shift towards sectoral collective bargaining in adult social care. Emphasis is given to the importance of union involvement, addressing systemic issues like unequal pay and the pitfalls of zero-hour contracts.
Despite challenges, new legislative consultations provide hope for fairer employment practices.
The show closes with a call to reinforce workers' power through unions, balancing collective and individual rights.
About The Institute of Employment Rights
The IER aims to develop modern employment laws and offers publications, briefings, and conference papers.
Supporters can subscribe and receive newsletters at www.ier.org.uk.
Episode Chapters:
00:00 Getting The Bill Right: Lessons From Legislation Past
00:47 Introduction
04:31 Why Legal Language Matters
05:42 Balancing The Long View
Worker Status, Worker Rights: Closing The Gaps In The Employment Rights Bill
Season 1 · Episode 3
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 • Duration 30:39
Will the Employment Rights Bill 2024 pave the way to reform of employment status for workers? Or will it leave open a trap door for worker rights to fall through?
Institute of Employment Rights Director James Harrison examines the gaps in the Labour Party's Employment Rights Bill with Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King's College London, and Nicola Countouris, Professor of Labour Law at University College London.
These distinguished experts explore the troubled issue of employment status and delve into the significant elements of the bill aimed at improving workers' rights.
They examine the urgency of implementing new rights, the concept of day one rights and the value of probationary periods for new hires.
Digging into zero-hour contracts, the potential for employee coercion, and the impact of sectoral collective bargaining on wages and inequality, James, Keith and Nicola shed light on the bill’s potential impact on workers and the challenges it faces in addressing systemic problems within the employment landscape.
Chapters
00:00 Worker Status, Worker Rights: Closing The Gaps In The Employment Rights Bill
00:01 Welcome
01:33 Five Questions The Bill Must Address
03:27 Protecting Workers from Unfair Dismissal
06:22 Day One Rights In Perspective
09:01 Probation Periods And Short-term Contracts
10:18 Why Worker Status Needs Reform
16:27 A Two-Part Framework for Employment Status
18:00 Case Study: Supreme Court Ruling On Deliveroo Riders
22:19 Zero Hours Contracts: People As Commodities
26:15 Lord Hendy's Status Of Workers Bill
Laws Fit For Workplace Equality
Season 1 · Episode 7
Thursday, December 5, 2024 • Duration 34:23
"Having a Proactive duty on employers to keep their workplace free of sexual harassment is, in principle, a very good step forward.
The way in which it's formulated is that the employer must take on all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, and the key issue is what are all those reasonable steps?"
In the sixth episode of the Institute of Employment Rights podcast, equality and discrimination experts Professor Sandy Fredman and Dr. Joe Atkinson analyse the Labour Party's proposed changes to equality legislation and their impact on workers through the Employment Rights Bill, the Equality Race and Disability Bill, and other forthcoming legislation.
The discussion, hosted by IER director James Harrison, covers new proactive duties on employers to prevent sexual harassment, the implications of extending paternity leave, the impact of mandatory pay gap reporting for ethnicity and disability, and the socioeconomic duty on public bodies.
The episode also explores the challenges posed by AI in the workplace, including the need for regulatory measures to ensure compliance with employment laws and equality standards.
Chapters;
00:00 Welcome
07:33 Equality Action Plans
10:25 Including outsourced workers in pay gap reporting
12:52 Changes to paternal leave
23:12 AI and equality in the workplace
28:05 Socio-economic duty - will it finally be enacted?
Unmasking the weaknesses in Labour's plan to tackle fire and rehire and zero-hours contracts.
"This is not ending fire and rehire, this is facilitating fire and rehire." - Professor Keith Ewing
In this episode of the Institute of Employment Rights podcast, we delve into the Labour Party's proposed Employment Rights Bill with labour law experts Professor Keith Ewing and Neil Todd.
Topics discussed:
Zero-hours contracts: Do the bill's provisions offer genuine job security and prevent exploitation for workers on these contracts?
Fire and rehire: Does the bill truly ban this practice or does it inadvertently provide a roadmap for employers to continue using it?
Loopholes and limitations: Ewing and Todd highlight potential weaknesses in the bill, including vague definitions, limited enforcement mechanisms, and a lack of compensation for workers who lose their jobs due to fire and rehire.
International examples: The episode explores how other countries, like Australia, have successfully tackled fire and rehire and what lessons the UK can learn.
The role of unions: The experts emphasize the need for stronger unions and greater worker involvement in decision-making processes to prevent exploitative practices.
Key takeaways:
While the Employment Rights Bill offers some positive steps, it falls short of providing comprehensive protection for workers.
Stronger enforcement mechanisms, clearer definitions, and greater union involvement are crucial to ensure fair labour practices.
The UK can learn from international examples to create a more robust and equitable legal framework for workers.
Does Labour's Employment Rights Bill Deliver on Sectoral Bargaining?
Season 1 · Episode 4
Friday, January 10, 2025 • Duration 29:43
"This is the first realistic chance we've had to revise the industrial relations structure of this country since Mrs. Thatcher came to power in 1979."
Leading labour law experts Lord John Hendy KC and Prof. Keith Ewing address the absence of sectoral collective bargaining from the Labour government’s new Employment Rights Bill.
These two industrial relations law heavyweights argue that the Bill leaves UK workers vulnerable to exploitation from companies hostile to collective agreements.
"The minimum wage is the ceiling, and there's nothing above it."
They expound Britain’s historical sectoral bargaining arrangements, their evisceration under Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the urgent need to reinstate trade union powers to negotiate effectively across entire industries.
Sectoral Bargaining: Why is it crucial for improving wages and working conditions?
Strike Rights: Are UK Workers Getting A Raw Deal?
Season 1 · Episode 5
Tuesday, January 21, 2025 • Duration 33:23
"Having the right to strike doesn't mean you have to exercise it. The point is to have the right in order that workers ultimately have leverage in negotiations."
In conversation with Institute of Employment Rights Director, James Harrison, leading labour law experts Lord John Hendy KC and Prof. Keith Ewing address the failure of the Bill to meet the UK's obligations under international employment law.
They question if the new bodies created under the Bill have the teeth to fill the void left by a properly resourced Ministry of Labour - Britain is one of only a handful of developed nations that do not have a Labour Minister running their own department.
" Businesses, employers will be laughing at unions all the way through the process, because they know that at the end of the day, they can keep the union out."
Pointing to the shortcomings in the Bill regarding the right to strike, union access to workplaces and adequate enforcement agencies, these two industrial law heavyweights raise the prospect that - even under the new legislation - there could be a repeat of , where almost 800 sailors were summarily dismissed.
The Working Life Podcast - by the Institute of Employment Rights
Season 2 · Episode 1
Thursday, February 5, 2026 • Duration 27:52
Welcome to the new 2nd season of the Institute of Employment Rights Podcast. In this episode, Prof Nicola Countouris (UCL & IER) and Lord John Hendy KC (UCL & IER), discuss the implications of the Government's new Employment Rights Act (2025).
Topics covered are:
- Worker Status
- Sectoral bargaining
- Industrial Action Legislation
- Effective remedies for workers
- Could P&O happen again after the Act?
The Right to Strike
Season 2 · Episode 2
Friday, May 22, 2026 • Duration 42:09
In the latest episode of ‘Working Life’, IER Chairperson Lord John Hendy KC discusses the right to strike in the UK with Professor Tonia Novitz, a leading academic in labour law at the University of Bristol Centre for Law at Work. She sits on the advisory board of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) and is co-editor of ‘The Right to Strike Reimagined’ (Bloomsbury 2026,) as well as co-author of ‘The Right to Strike in International Law’ (Bloomsbury 2021).
In this second instalment of the Working Life Podcast, Lord Hendy KC and Professor Novitz begin with a historical discussion of the first recorded instances of strike action in Ancient Egypt, and what we mean today by calling for an enshrined positive ‘Right to Strike’. The Employment Rights Act 2025 took the necessary step of repealing contemporary anti-union legislation such as the majority of the Trade Union Act (2016) and the MSL (Strikes) Act 2023, and our speakers discuss how far this will go to address the restrictions that have been placed on workers’ ability to strike over the past 40 years.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to the Right to Strike and its History
07:37 What is meant by exercising the ‘Right to Strike’
13:06 Contemporary attempts at restricting the power to take industrial action
14:40 The Employment Rights Act 2025 and the right to strike omission
18:30 The P&O Ferry dispute
21:17 New changes to balloting, picketing law and strike mandates
25:40 The extension of protection from dismissal and detriment for taking industrial action
28:00 International Labour Standards and the Right to Strike
35:20 The Role of the International Labour Organization
Key quotations:
“The architecture and framework of very coercive [anti-union] legislation has been retained. This Government has modified and repealed aspects of the TU act 2016, and more importantly that terrible piece of legislation the Minimum Services Levels (Strikes) Act 2023, but that requirement of a ballot, those requirements of notification to the employer, though they have been tinkered with and are not as cruel and stringent as they were, they do basically remain the same”. (Professor Novitz)
The Right To Strike: Is the UK violating international law by restricting workers' right to strike?
Still No Ministry Of Labour: Will the new Fair Work Agency be strong enough to truly protect workers?
Workplace Access: Can unions overcome the obstacles in Labour's new bill to effectively advocate for workers?
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome
01:26 The Right To Strike: A Fundamental Human Right
02:51 Britain's International Obligations On The Right To Strike
05:15 Electronic Ballots For Strike Action
08:03 Labour Party Commitments Dropped
15:28 Workplace Access Rights For Trade Unions
19:51 Remedies For Unions Vs Employers: A Legal Mis-Match
21:21 Union Access: How It Works Outside The UK
23:21 New Agencies, Limited Powers, No Labour Ministry
28:08 Inadequate Enforcement On Behalf Of Workers
32:28 Thank You For Joining Us
Takeaways:
Workers’ Rights:
The UK's restrictive strike laws, particularly compared to international standards, undermine workers' bargaining power.
This imbalance makes it harder for unions to negotiate fair wages, secure better working conditions.
It also makes it harder to protect against unfair dismissal, ultimately leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation.
Inadequate Enforcement:
Despite the promise of a new Fair Work Agency, its limited powers and narrow focus raise serious doubts about its ability to protect workers.
Without the ability to prosecute employers or address a wider range of labour violations, the agency may struggle to prevent future mass dismissals and other abuses.
This situation will leave workers reliant on lengthy and costly legal battles to defend their rights - without much confidence of adequate compensation should they win.
Unions Blocked:
Although Labour's bill offers some positive changes, like simplifying ballot procedures, it falls short of addressing key obstacles to union organising and strike action.
Unions will still need to navigate complex legal hurdles and employer resistance to gain workplace access and effectively exercise their right to strike.
This highlights the need for strategic planning and continued advocacy for stronger worker protections.
“Without some kind of solidarity action being possible […] you had no way to place adequate pressure on the employer to adhere to their collective agreements and to pay workers a reasonable sum for their labour or even to comply with the law” (Professor Novitz on the P&O Ferry dispute)
