A Labour MP is to raise the issue of workers’ rights post-Brexit with a private members’ bill on the first day of Parliament’s return from its summer recess.
UNISON is asking its members to lobby their MPs and urge them to back Melanie Onn’s Workers’ Rights (Maintenance of EU Standards) Bill on 7 September.
The bill addresses the collective rights and protections of UK workers that are currently enshrined in EU legislation – and the fear that those will be lost if the UK leaves the single market as well as the EU.
It calls on the UK government to underpin those rights by “fully and properly” establishing them in UK legislation.
Ms Onn, MP for Great Grimsby and a former UNISON regional organiser, will introducing the bill through a 10-minute motion, which gives MP an opportunity to raise the profile of an issue and gauge its support among other MPs.
Responding to the bill, UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “We must hold this government to account, to ensure that our hard working public service workers are not cheated out of any rights as we negotiate leaving the EU.”
Download a draft letter for your local MP
