Wales report calls for better enforcement of labour rights

Many workers' experience "is characterised by insecurity, stagnant wages, and a labour rights system that provides very little real protection", according to the final report of the Future of Devolution and Work in Wales Commission. And many of the laws meant to support workers "exist only on paper".

The report, by Cardiff University Professor Jean Jenkins, commissioned by the Wales TUC, calls for sweeping changes in the Welsh government's approaches to work and the enforcement of labour rights.

And it recommends creating a Minister for Work in the next Welsh government cabinet. Jenkins also says unions should set up a working group to look at the practicalities of devolving employment rights.

Polling of workers for the report, by Opinium Research, found workers evenly split on the issue, with 45% believing the Welsh government should have control and 44% thinking they should rest with the UK government.

And the polling revealed a generational split, with younger workers significantly more likely to support the devolution of workers' rights.

Wales TUC general secretary Shavanah Taj said the recommendations "focus on radically reshaping working life in Wales - by investment in enforcement and pivoting the devolved state towards rebuilding the conditions necessary for workers to realise their basic labour rights".

Unions in Wales will agree a new position on devolution at the Wales TUC Congress in May.