It’s not every day a Tory chancellor gives a press conference in which he stresses (four times by my reckoning) that he is keen to meet with trade unions as a matter of urgency in order to devise a plan to protect jobs and wages. And when he is flanked by a prime minister who hitherto has hardly seen fit to give trade unions the time of day, the spectacle is stranger still. These, though, are not ordinary times.
The acute hardship facing millions upon whose labour our nation depends must be seen as high a priority as shielding the vulnerable from the coronavirus itself. The unions must get stuck in to the discussions — and fast.
The context of these talks will be unique to all the main players. Union leaders will know that their leverage is limited — plainly none of them will be threatening industrial action if they don’t get their way — so there will no place for idle threats. Constructive dialogue and persuasive argument must be the way.
Meanwhile, the Government’s decision to provide much of its multi-billion pounds rescue package in the form of loans means that many business owners, unwilling to saddle themselves with future debt, may simply decide to battle on against the odds. The risk of mass business failures and interruptions, therefore, remains high.
So the unions must, as a first concern, seek an agreement that the Government underwrite the wages of any employee who is either laid off or unable to work through having contracted the virus (or has self-isolated). The same must be sought for anyone who, as a consequence of school closures, finds themselves in the unavoidable position of having to take leave from work to look after children. Ensuring that workers are not compelled to choose between wages, health and childcare must be paramount.
In Austria, Norway and Denmark, tripartite negotiations between government, unions and employers have resulted in agreements on substantial wage support for workers in financial difficulty as a consequence of the virus. There is no reason why the UK should not seek to emulate any appropriate elements, even though these countries’ employment and social security arrangements will be different.
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