Employment

Baroness Turner of Camden Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Turner of Camden (Lab)]

My Lords, I should like to thank the Minister for introducing a debate on this important subject. He referred to growth, and many of us welcome that, but we have other concerns. What sort of growth, we must ask? What kind of work, and what is the effect upon many families struggling against poverty? The growth is clearly mainly in London and the south-east. The remainder of the country, particularly the north, is not doing so well. Unemployment in the north is around 10%, compared with 5% in the south-east. The parts of the country that are most affected are those that have faced deindustrialisation. The factories that once provided employment for the local population have disappeared. Many industries, like the steel industry following privatisation, have disappeared altogether. This is the process which was started under the Administration of the late Baroness Thatcher.

Concerns about the lack of balance in the economy have been voiced by many noble Lords in the debate. The Government seem to accept that rebalancing is necessary if growth is to continue, but obviously much more needs to be done. It is accepted that we need a more skilled workforce, and in that respect I support the efforts that the Government are making to promote apprenticeship training. Much more needs to be done in that direction for young people. Equally, more should be done to encourage young people into science and engineering studies. A number of years ago, when I was a member of the Equal Opportunities Commission, we ran the WISE campaign, which stood for Women Into Science and Engineering. We had some success in that regard and we could do with another campaign now. We need campaigns to generate more enthusiasm.

As to what work is like nowadays, again, there has been concern about the work that is available. There is talk of zero-hours contract work and of work that is low-paid. Sometimes individuals must take several small jobs because one job simply does not pay enough. This is particularly the case for women, because childcare is too expensive for many people. There was recently a TUC conference for women at which many stories were told of the treatment of people on zero-hours contracts, as well as appalling stories about very low pay. Concerns were expressed that the austerity cuts, from which everyone is expected to suffer, impact more heavily on women. Although there has been growth, wages generally seem to be stagnant. I am glad to say that there has been talk of raising the minimum wage, but it needs to rise by more than the amount suggested for it to be of real assistance. What we really need is the living wage to lift people out of poverty.

In discussions about employment in this House on previous occasions, it was suggested that people should “get on their bikes” and go to where the work exists. That is no longer a good idea because the problem is housing. In London and the south-east generally there is a housing crisis which has resulted in a shortage of social housing, and private renting is desperately expensive. All this indicates that although there is growth, particularly in the south-east, there are still major problems for many people, who face insecurity both in employment and on the housing front. The Government’s employment policies have simply added to that insecurity.

We have seen a series of measures from the Government designed to diminish or totally remove the employment rights that have been fought for over the years. It is now very difficult for a dismissed worker to claim for unfair dismissal. If, after coping with a series of bureaucratic steps he or she eventually gets to a tribunal, it will cost almost £1,000 in fees. Workers injured at work will find it more difficult to claim compensation because of changes to the law, and whistleblowers will now lose their protection if they attempt to warn about unsafe practices in the workplace.

There is also the government scheme of “shares for rights”. Employees are given shares in a company in return for surrendering all employment rights. I am glad to say that these schemes do not appear to have had much success, but all this indicates that the Government prefer to have a workforce with no workplace rights at all. This adds further to feelings of insecurity and of course encourages bad employers to behave even worse. In this House we defeated some of the proposals, but the Government later defeated our amendments in the Commons. I strongly believe that a well paid, well trained and respected workforce is far more likely to produce sustainable growth than an insecure one. After all, no one likes to feel that they are disposable.

As for training, the Government should not pay too much attention to what the media have to say about trade unions. I speak as a former trade union official. Unions are committed to the education and training of members. Unionlearn, the TUC’s education department, is highly respected for the work it does among people who missed out on training earlier in their careers. The automotive industry, which has been doing quite well, has involved the unions and has received their support. I gather that this is what happens in Germany. That was explained in some detail by my noble friend Lord Monks in his speech earlier.

There is some growth and some improvement in the employment figures, but clearly very much remains to be done. Again, I thank the Minister for his speech. It has given a number of us an opportunity to air our problems, and I hope that he will pay attention to what we have said this afternoon.