Lee Anderson rips into Rayner demanding she 'listen to real Brits' as trade union row escalates
Lee Anderson has ripped into Angela Rayner, demanding she "listen to real Brits"
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Lee Anderson has ripped into Angela Rayner, demanding she "listen to real Brits".
The Conservative Party Chairman told GB News that the Labour Party's newly unveiled pro-union policies will "take Britain back to the 70s", accusing Labour of "dancing to the unions' tune".
Meanwhile, Independent MP for Blackpool South Scott Benton warned that the proposals will allow trade union paymasters to "bring entire sectors to a halt, disrupting the lives of millions of people".
In the 1970s, spiralling wages and worker discontent meant that more than 10 million working days were lost in just one year through strike action.
Angela Rayner addressed the Trades Union Congress this morning
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This morning, Rayner unveiled Labour's New Deal for Working People - a plan which will strengthen workers' collective bargaining power.
The Shadow Deputy Prime Minister promised to "strengthen the protections afforded to all workers by banning zero-hours contracts, ending fire and rehire, and removing qualifying periods for basic rights, and more."
But Anderson tore the plan apart, saying: "Ange is taking orders from her trade union paymasters again.
"These ideas will take Britain back to the 70s when radical union barons ruled the roost and a three-day week didn't mean working from home - I would know, I was there.
"Labour should stop dancing to the unions' tune and listen to real Brits who just want these strikes to end."
Meanwhile, Benton told GB News: "Labour’s plan to introduce collective bargain will take us straight back to the economic chaos of the 1970’s.
"It will hand their trade Union paymasters the powers to bring entire sectors to a halt, disrupting the lives of millions of people.
"Strike action has cost the economy billions in lost productivity over the last few years and Labour’s plans risk bringing the whole country to a grinding holt like they did in the 1970s."
The Shadow Deputy Prime Minister promised to "strengthen the protections afforded to all workers by banning zero-hours contracts, ending fire and rehire, and removing qualifying periods for basic rights, and more."
Such a boost to collective bargaining risks causing major blockages in the economy, with workers having the power to bring entire sectors to a halt.
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The Shadow Deputy Prime Minister promised to 'strengthen the protections afforded to all workers'
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The plan, which will strengthen workers' collective bargaining power, will be rolled out to the social care sector first.Explaining how it would work in practice, Rayner told the Trades Union Congress today: "We will boost collective bargaining, both at a firm level and sectorally, starting with fair pay agreements in adult social care.
"We will empower workers and the trade unions that represent them, and employers in sectors to negotiate fair pay terms and conditions, like training, staff benefits and more."
She said the plan would be introduced in the first "100 days" of a Labour government.