Employment Rights Bill

Baroness Rafferty Excerpts

2nd reading
Thursday 27th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rafferty (Lab)]

My Lords, I refer to my interests in the register. I, too, welcome the quartet of maiden speeches, especially those from our Benches.

I welcome this Bill, one of whose aims is to repeal the pernicious Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. These laws imposed disproportionate constraints on the ability of working people to organise collectively and defend their interests, weakening the foundations of workplace democracy.

When I was president of the Royal College of Nursing, the college took the momentous decision to halt history and overturn a decision not to strike after more than 100 years of its history. The conditions that produced that decision were triggered by the previous Government’s record as a hostile and aggressive actor seeking to bully nurses to back down on their pay claim to remedy 14 years of pay stagflation.

When nurses go on strike, we know there is something seriously wrong with the moral order. Having been on the picket line with fellow nurses in Northern Ireland in 2019 and in London during 2022-23, I was struck by the resolve of nurses and their dogged determination to seek justice and protect patient safety, and the extraordinary support shown by the public. Throughout the strike action, the Government misjudged not only nurses’ own resolve but the public mood, banking on a cynical political calculation that public support for striking nurses would wither and wane. Evidence demonstrated that the opposite occurred: public support was not only sustained but strengthened over time.

It is also gratifying to see ways in which the Bill reflects some of the priorities of the nursing profession. The Bill’s proposed expansion of trade union access rights is particularly important for nurses in the independent sector, many of whom have little or no exposure to trade union representation at work. To be meaningful, this access must be available via both digital and physical means, and employers must be subject to a clear statutory duty to comply.

The Bill’s provisions to create an adult social care negotiating body represent, potentially, a transformative change for a sector long characterised by low pay, fragmented employment and workforce instability. Many nursing staff in this sector work under conditions that would be unacceptable in any other part of the health system. This body could help promote equality, particularly for internationally recruited nursing staff, upon whom we will increasingly rely, and workers from marginalised communities. Reports of repayment clauses, bonded labour arrangements and racialised pay disparities remain disturbingly common in adult social care and must be rooted out.

Modernising employment law for the nursing profession must address the systemic challenges faced by women in work—from pregnancy and parental leave protections to preventing workplace harassment and improving access to flexible working. This Bill presents an important opportunity to tackle long-standing inequalities and deliver on the potential for a more supportive and inclusive working environment for nursing staff. I commend it to your Lordships’ House.