‘They’re defending the broken status quo and are putting their own vested interests ahead of working people’s lives.’
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has slammed Conservative and Lib Dem peers for voting to halt Labour’s ban on zero hours contracts.
A total of 264 to 158 voted to change the requirement for an employer to offer guaranteed hours merely to a right for employees to request them.
This means the proposals to ban zero hours contracts in the Employment Rights Bill have been significantly watered down.
The changes were pushed through by 172 Conservative and 54 Lib Dem peers, and 41 of the Lords who voted for the amendment were hereditary peers, members who inherit their seats through aristocratic lineage.
Tory and Lib Dem Peers went on to back a measure to exempt employers from having to make a payment to a worker if a shift is cancelled with at least 48 hours’ notice.
The Employment Rights Bill will return to the Lords today for further votes on opposition amendments, including on fire and rehire.
Labour is in the process of moving a bill through the Houses of Parliament to remove the remaining 91 hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
Polling by Focaldata for the TUC and Hope Not Hate found that more than 72% of UK voters support a ban on zero hours contracts – including 65% of Reform voters and 63% of Conservative voters from the 2024 general election.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “The Conservatives have once again sided with bad bosses by voting to keep workers on zero hours contracts. They are out of touch and defying the will of the public.”
He added: “I would challenge any Tory Lord or Lib Dem peer to try to survive on a zero-hours contract, not knowing from week to week how much work they will have.
“The sight of hereditary peers denying workers basic protections belongs in another century – not modern Britain. They’re defending the broken status quo and are putting their own vested interests ahead of working people’s lives.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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