Lord Monks
Main Page: Lord Monks (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Monks
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their plans for employment rights to be exchangeable for shares.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Lord Marland)
My Lords, in October, the Chancellor announced that he intended to create a new employment status called employee owner. This new employment status has different employment rights from employees. Employee owners could own shares worth between £2,000 and £50,000 in companies they work for and will not be subject to capital gains tax.
Lord Monks
I thank the Minister for that reply, but can anyone here imagine a decent employer trying to bribe workers to give up their employment rights in return for shares of questionable value? After all, some 50% of small firms fold within five years. Will not decent employers agree with Justin King, the boss of Sainsbury’s, who said that this is not what we should be doing? Will the Government stop once and for all encouraging employers to show a degree of contempt for workers’ rights and ditch this tawdry proposal?
Lord Marland
My Lords, I have obviously read the TUC’s views on this, and I am not surprised that the noble Lord should wish to propound them, but we must understand that this is a voluntary, not a compulsory, scheme between employees and employers. Surely that is the best way forward for employee relations, as the noble Lord must concede.