UK : Workers must have a place in the boardroom of Britain's top firms, say union leaders
Union leaders will demand workers be placed on the boards of Britain’s big companies to give people on the shopfloor a voice.
And the move will be on the top of
the agenda when TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady meets Prime Minister Theresa May next month in Downing Street.
Speaking to the Mirror ahead of the TUC annual conference in Brighton starting this weekend, Ms O’Grady said she wanted to hold the Prime Minister to her pledge made outside No 10 in July to make Britain “a country that works for everyone".
Ms O’Grady said she would be talking to the Prime Minister at a top level meeting on behalf of more then 6million trade union members.
Britain was the odd one out in Europe, she said, as having workers on the board was the norm in most countries.
The idea was first mooted by union leaders in the 1970s, but was dropped in the wake of other industrial battles.
Now she said the time was right for workers to take their place in the boardroom and having a say in key workplace issues, such as investment, apprenticeships, training opportunities and research and development.
The TUC is proposing workers on the boards of firms employing more than 1,000 people.
Ms O’Grady said: ”Why lock out people who have a long-term interest in the success of a business? The majority of British people think it is common sense to let workers have a voice.
“Unions should be able to nominate who goes on the board, so it is not a management appointment. We have got some very detailed proposals.”
Asked why business leaders opposed the move, she said: ”Some top bosses are embarrassed by the fact that top pay has rocketed, while pay for the workers has gone down.”
Ms O’Grady also warned that many workers were worried about their jobs after the Brexit vote and wanted to see a clear industrial policy from the government.
She said union officials in factories across the country were “very uncertain” about the future and it was crucial they did not “pay the price of Brexit”.
The TUC leader also vowed to confront bosses using zero-hours contracts, in the wake of the Sports Direct scandal, and bogus self-employment which she branded a “cancer in the jobs market”.
This would see the unions launch a new campaign to sign up new members from the low-paid and insecure retail, hospitality and care industries.
They could be offered cheaper subs to join the union, while the unions will make it easier to sign up use new technology, she signalled.
In particular, she wanted to reach out to young people who had become “ghetto-ised” in catering and shop jobs.
She added that the “big challenge” facing the union movement was tackling exploitation of workers and stressed the need for everyone to have the right to guaranteed hours and a minimum number of hours of work.
Ms O’Grady also had a message for the next Labour leader. She said whoever won the leadership race had to show they could reach out to voters beyond the party and win the general election.
“We have an interest in a strong opposition. Once this leadership contest is over all trade unionists would like to see the Labour Party focusing a little less on its own membership and MPs and a little more on voters and election victory and what that takes.
“Working people need a government that’s batting for them and we all know parties that are divided don’t win,” she said.