Northumberland Labour welcomes the launch of the party’s new deal for working people.
It comes after a number of reports from independent bodies and the Trades Union Congress show that Britain is not working for working people, with rising numbers of people in in-work poverty, struggling to keep a roof over their head and feed their families while 4.2 million children, including 51 per cent of the under fives, live in poverty.
Northumberland Labour leader Scott Dickinson said: “The term ‘just about managing’ coined by former Prime Minister Teresa May was totally insulting to working people. Working people, faced with rising housing costs and an erosion of pay and other working conditions were made to feel like it was their fault if they couldn’t make ends meet while the very same government’s policies were putting them in this position.
Labour’s new deal for workers includes:
Security at work– Better and fairer workplaces by giving workers full rights from day one on the job; outlawing fire and rehire; a new right to work flexibly; and strengthened trade unions
Quality jobs– a strong industrial strategy that uses government contracts to support British businesses so we buy, make and sell more in Britain, delivering investment in high-quality, well-paid green jobs in the industries of the future
A fairer economy – a fair and level playing field on tax between the multinational giants and local businesses on the high street; and tackling harassment and discrimination at work so everyone can get on
Opportunity for all – a jobs-promise for young people with a guarantee of quality education, training or employment; and create tens of thousands of apprenticeships by ending the Treasury raid of the apprenticeship levy
Work that pays – make sure that work pays paid wages that people can raise a family on with a real living wage of at least £10 an hour and more workers covered by collectively agreed deals which boost pay.
Scott added: “In Northumberland we agree that the county and the country should be the best place to live and work. This will never be achieved by this government whose levelling up agenda is just not working.
“But Labour’s new deal for working people will make this happen, so we look forward to a future Labour government acting in the interests of working people and not just in the interests of a few wealthy business owners.”
“The Institute for Policy Research, the UK's leading leading progressive think tank, says people who were just about managing are no longer managing, saying Britain's social settlement with its workers is broken.”