The Rundown Podcast: TUC Boss Paul Nowak On Labour's Workers' Rights Record

4 min read5 hr

In the latest episode in a series over Parliament’s summer recess, speaking to experts and looking at how Labour has performed in its first year in office, we’re focusing on the world of work, from employment rights, public sector pay, and the government’s relationship with trade unions.

Having come into office promising an end to the strikes in several sectors, and repairing the relationship with public services, as well as sweeping changes to workers' rights, host Alain Tolhurst looks at how Labour is doing so far.

Joining him is Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, which represents 48 unions with a total of about 5.5m members, who begun by praising the government for getting its flagship Employment Rights Bill through the Commons and almost into law, but added: "It's fair to say as well that the government hasn't got everything right over the last 12 months or more.

"And where they haven't got it right, we've had to tell them that they haven't got it right.”

Nowak said there’s “sometimes been a mismatch between what the government is delivering and what they're actually communicating and demonstrating to people that they're delivering”, urging ministers to be better at selling the narrative of the Starmer administration.

"When you have a conversation at the pub or with your mates at work, people will have a downer on the government, and some of that is self-inflicted. Winter fuel payments would be the thing that pops up on the doorstep, the benefit reforms would be another example,” he said.

“But actually, there's a lot of good stuff that has gone under the radar that maybe the government needs to be better at communicating and demonstrating to people that they are delivering that manifesto.”

The TUC leader highlighted the ban on zero-hours contracts, an end to the practice of ‘fire and rehire’, and giving people employment rights and sick pay from day one of a new job, describing the changes as “potentially transformative for millions of working people”.

However, he urged the government to go further on things like public sector pay.

“Because, frankly, we have got a recruitment and retention crisis in large parts of our public services, and one-off pay rounds aren't going to resolve those issues,” Nowak said.

TUC boss Paul Nowak — General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Paul Nowak (Alamy)

He also said that continued support for workers’ rights was not just popular across the political spectrum, but was a clear dividing line with the likes of Nigel Farage, saying the Reform UK leader “says he stands up for working people and has voted against the Employment Rights Bill at every single opportunity”.

Calling Farage “a complete and utter opportunist” over his support for nationalisation of British steelmaking earlier this year, when he was pictured with a ‘save our steel’ poster, Nowak joked: “I think that would have been the first time he's ever held a piece of union literature in his life!"

The TUC boss continued: “I tend to judge politicians by what they do, rather than what they say. The guy, as well as voting against employment rights, has been hanging on the coattails of Donald Trump, whose tariffs on steel and automotive posed an existential threat to jobs in the UK in our manufacturing base.

“I can't remember Nigel Farage calling out his mate in the White House about the approach on tariffs, so I take Farage and Reform with a huge pinch of salt."

He added, however, that there could be a lesson for the Labour government in Reform's recent rise.

"There is something there for the government to think about: a little bit of economic, left-wing populism goes a long way.”

The Rundown is presented by Alain Tolhurst, and is produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot