Decent deal with Europe needed


The TUC has called on the next government to get a deal with Europe that protects current workers’ rights in the wake of a new study warning that workers’ rights are at risk in both the EU and UK after Brexit.


The report, Could a bad Brexit deal reduce workers’ rights across Europe?, was commissioned by the TUC from the think tank, the Work Foundation.


Chancellor Phillip Hammond has threatened to change the UK to a deregulated tax haven if a post-Brexit deal with the EU is not reached, raising the risk that Britain may cut protections for people at work. 


Among its findings, the study says that for low-pay and low-productivity sectors, there are real risks of a “race to the bottom” if countries seek to compete by cutting workers’ protections. The study suggests that this would lead to pressure on EU nations to reduce working people’s rights in order to compete for low-skilled jobs.


TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that in the absence of “strong protections for working people at the heart of our deal with the EU, Britain could become a bargain basement economy”.

https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/TUC_BrexitWorkersRights.pdf