(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberIt is interesting that the Conservatives’ motion acknowledges the important role that hospitality businesses play in offering a first step on the employment ladder to
“young and often excluded groups”.
If they care so much about young and often excluded people, I would have thought they would have backed Labour’s Employment Rights Bill, because right now in Ealing Southall, young workers and the many workers of Indian heritage in my constituency can be sacked for no reason whatsoever in their first two years in a job. These are often hard-working, qualified people but they are completely at the mercy of bad employers because the right not to be unfairly dismissed applies only after two years in a job.
There are some great hospitality businesses in Ealing Southall, including the Plough in Northfields, a Fuller’s pub I visited recently, which does a lot to train and support its staff. However, over half of employees under 30 have been with their current employer for less than two years, and 42% of black, Asian and minority ethnic employees have been with their current employer for less than two years, compared with 28% of white workers. The very young, black and Asian workers that the Conservatives claim to care about are therefore exactly the people who will be helped most by Labour’s Employment Rights Bill. In fact, it is an all-too-common trick for bad employers to sack workers just before the two years are up. The Conservatives need to explain why they think it is okay that a young worker can be sacked for no reason after 23 and a half months in the job, just so they do not get their rights.
The Conservatives’ motion also objects to Labour’s plan to end exploitative zero-hours contracts. Who do they think is most likely to be on those kinds of contracts? Oh yes! It is exactly the same young and often excluded workers, but they obviously do not care about them at all. Exploitative zero-hours contracts do not just mean that workers do not know from week to week if they will be able to afford the rent; they also put power into the hands of managers who can use the threat of people losing their hours to threaten and bully—you’ve guessed it—young, black and Asian workers, who are often the most vulnerable at work.
My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Small businesses in my constituency often tell me that they want to be really good employers. That is something that they take great pride in, but they get undercut by some of the bad employers. Does she agree that the Bill is good not only for the worker but for the business?
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Labour’s Employment Rights Bill is all about levelling the playing field so that the efforts made by the great employers that we have in this country, including hospitality employers, to look after their workers can be broadened out to the whole of the industry.
The Conservatives also need to stop pretending that this change that Labour is bringing in would stop seasonal working in the hospitality sector. Stop making things up! A worker can stay on a zero-hours contract if that is what they want. Many people will choose to do that if it fits with their lives, but where there is clearly a regular job and someone has been working those hours for at least three months, they will have the right to a guarantee of those minimum hours. What is wrong with that? The Tories need to explain why they think it is okay for young and often excluded workers to remain at the beck and call of bad managers, with no control over their hours and no financial security.
Our hospitality businesses are indeed often the first step on the employment ladder, and McDonald’s in Southall is another great example of that. The Conservatives are busy trying to knock people off that ladder. With Labour’s Employment Rights Bill, we are helping workers climb up the ladder into decent, well-paid jobs that their families can thrive on.
(5 months ago)
Commons ChamberI simply do not recognise the shadow Minister’s comments, and I will not take any lessons from the Conservatives on facilities, given that they oversaw a decade of council cuts that left many of our sport and leisure facilities in desperate need of renovation.
The programme of cultural co-operation, which the Secretary of State signed earlier this month, creates significant opportunities for the UK’s cultural sectors to reach a market of over 1.4 billion people in India. We expect this agreement to create skilled jobs and opportunities for young people from Southall to Kolkata over the next five years.
The Liberty cinema in my constituency of Ealing Southall, now the Himalaya Palace shopping centre, was the first cinema in the country to regularly show Bollywood films, and Southall has formed the backdrop of many a Bollywood movie since then, so I welcome this agreement to increase co-operation between the UK and Indian film industries for the benefit of both economies. What more can the Government and the Minister do to encourage cultural partnerships, so that the next generation of the British Indian diaspora in Southall can continue to enjoy their vibrant heritage?
There could not be a better constituency MP than my hon. Friend to highlight this subject, and to show this symbolic uniting of Indian and British culture. I think British bhangra originally came out of Ealing Southall, and so many Anglo-Indian writers have been quintessential in determining the future of the British language, and will be part of our literary future. I am absolutely delighted that we have this cultural agreement, and we are determined to work with our Indian colleagues on progressing all the ideas that my hon. Friend and others have come up with.