My Lords, I opposed this clause at Second Reading and in Committee, and I do so again. I support the noble Lord’s amendment to remove this clause. I believe this Bill to be one of a series of government Bills designed to remove employment rights from individual workers without seeming to do so. The clause seeks to get workers voluntarily to give up employment rights by pretending to make them part-owners of the company. We are told that it will be entirely voluntary to become an employee shareholder. Will it really, when there is so much unemployment and consequently high concerns about employment security? People will be told that it is in their interests to become employee shareholders and that it will offer better internal progress, possible promotion and security, so that they do not have to worry about these old-fashioned employment rights. It is a way of dividing the workforce as well: an end to collectivity, with no unions to represent or negotiate for workers or to press for higher wages.
This Government do not like employment rights. LASPO, which we discussed in this House last year, rules out legal aid on employment law and on welfare. This clause is another way of getting rid of employment rights which previous generations fought hard to establish. The Government want tame workforces, where employers can hire workers—cheaply of course—and get rid of them easily when no longer required; in other words, disposable people. It is really surprising why this should be regarded as modern when it takes us back about 120 years. I do not believe that people should ever be regarded as disposable. I oppose this clause because that is what it is all about. The possession of shares in no way compensates for the loss of employment rights such as the right not to be unfairly dismissed, the right to a redundancy payment in suitable cases; the right to flexible working, and the rights relating to constraints on the notice about maternity and parental leave. I do not really believe that it is intended to.
I do not think the Government will succeed with this. Good employers do not like it. Shareholding schemes already exist in some enterprises without workers having to give up employment rights in order to participate—the John Lewis Partnership is one such enterprise. This clause is backward-looking and dishonest. The Beecroft recommendations were widely opposed when pronounced and it was clear that they could not be introduced in quite that form, so we have Beecroft by the back door, to persuade workers voluntarily to give up employment rights to which they are currently legally entitled. We should throw out this clause. The TUC is against the clause and tells us that it has the potential not only to remove employment rights but to cause hardships to employees and their families. It can also open up damaging tax loopholes, to which reference has already been made. It is thoroughly unpleasant and should be thrown out by this House.