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Workers' rights in post-Brexit Britain must be protected: trade union chief

Xinhua, December 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Britain's top trade union leader on Friday called on Prime Minister Theresa May to ensure the rights of millions of British workers are protected after the country leaves the European Union.

Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) accused some bosses of trying to hijack Brexit to see rights introduced by Brussels scrapped across Britain.

O'Grady called on May to make clear to Britain's bosses that any watering down of workers' rights following Brexit is off the table.

The TUC said its call follows the emergence of a letter sent to members of parliament by the owner of a British steel company.

"The letter details a list of workers' rights on areas such as working hours, holiday pay and health and safety that he wants abolished once we leave the EU," said a spokesman for the TUC, "The letter shows that the Brexit vote was seen as a means to an end for scrapping workers' rights by some of the bosses who campaigned to leave the EU."

O'Grady said: "The Leave campaign promised people more control over their lives. But now bad bosses are trying to hijack Brexit to let them walk all over working people. No-one voted to leave to lose vital protections like safe working hours and fair holiday pay."

The TUC said the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis, issued a message at the Conservative Party Conference in October to those trying to frighten British workers by saying employment rights will be eroded.

He told the conference: "I say firmly and unequivocally no, they won't. This Conservative government will not roll back those rights in the workplace."

May has also previously vowed that existing workers' legal rights will continue to be guaranteed in law.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, has told May that preserving workers' rights would be a "bottom line" for her to get his party's support for triggering Article 50, the mechanism that starts the two-year process of Britain leaving the EU. Endit