MPs and unions unite to stop the rot on redundancy pay

27th February 2009

Launch of Lindsay Hoyle MP's Statutory Redundancy (Amendment) bill
Committee Room 16, House of Commons
10.30am, Wednesday, 4th March 2009
Lindsay Hoyle will be joined by workers, MPs, Brendan Barber (TUC general secretary), Tony Woodley (Unite joint general secretary), Derek Simpson (Unite joint general secretary) and John Hannett (Usdaw general secretary)

Workers denied thousands of pounds when made redundant because they received only the legal minimum in redundancy pay will (on Wednesday, 4th March) back a bill aimed at giving workers a fairer deal in hard times.

Lindsay Hoyle MP's Statutory Redundancy (Amendment) bill is set for its second reading in the Commons on Friday, 13th March. The bill aims to uprate the state minimum for redundancy pay bringing it into line with average earnings, a move which would benefit three out of every four workers and go some way towards challenging the UK's reputation as a country where it is cheap and easy to sack workers.

While the bill is yet to receive government backing, improving redundancy pay was a commitment made as part of the Warwick agreement, and the bill is supported by the country's major unions and a growing number of Labour MPs are indicating that they will be attending the crucial second reading in order to push the bill through to its next stages.

The bill will be published on 4th March, when workers who have lost out on thousands of pounds worth of redundancy pay because their employers paid only the state minimum and not a sum in line with their earnings, will join MPs and union leaders at its Commons launch.

“When redundancy pay was introduced in 1965 it was a progressive measure, designed to help workers through hard times. But it has been allowed to wither drastically in value so that it is now worth around only half of earnings,” said Lindsay Hoyle MP.

“Today, workers are very much facing hard times again but state redundancy pay is so out of step with average earnings it acts as a ceiling for workers, not a floor to protect them.

“It is time to stop this 40 year rot so that when workers are laid off they receive what they're rightfully owed, and to end the national shame of our workers being among the cheapest to sack in Europe.”

The bill is supported by Unite, GMB, Unison, CWU, USDAW, Ucatt, Community, TSSA, Aslef, the Trade Union Liaison Organisation and the TUC.

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