“A second Employment Rights Bill is needed to finish the job.”
The Institute of Employment Rights (IER) and the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom (CTUF) are hosting a fringe meeting at the annual TUC Congress in Brighton. You can read about it below.
The 158th annual TUC Congress will be held between the 13th and the 16th of September 2026, in Brighton. Traditionally, one of the opening events in the TUC Congress fringe programme is the IER and CTUF fringe meeting, usually held on the Sunday night. It is considered to be one of the highlights of conference and an important indicator of the debate to come on the conference floor.
This year’s conference comes as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham stamps his mark on the Labour leadership. Burnham is expected to address Congress on the Monday or Tuesday of conference, outlining his relationship with the trade union movement at a time when the Labour government is being continuously lobbied by business organisations to water down the commitments in the Employment Rights Act 2025. Trade union leaders are urging him to resist those pressures, and many are urging him to take this opportunity to address the gaps in the legislation and ‘finish the job.’
The Employment Rights Act 2025 was an important first step in improving workers’ rights but falls short of the transformational change promised in Labour’s New Deal for Working People. A second Employment Rights Bill is needed to finish the job.
The Institute of Employment Rights / Campaign for Trade Union Freedom #TUC2026 fringe will be held on Sunday 13th September 2026, starting at 6.45 pm (or immediately after the end of conference). It will take place in the Brighton Conference Centre, Brighton, BN1 2G, in meeting room 1a. The fringe meeting is kindly sponsored by Thompsons Solicitors.
Speakers at the meeting will include:
- Steve Gillan, Prison Officers Association, General Secretary
- Fran Heathcote, PCS, General Secretary
- Joanne Thomas, USDAW, General Secretary
- Andrea Egan, UNISON, General Secretary
- Neil Todd, Thompsons Solicitors
- Lord John Hendy KC, IER and CTUF
- Prof Keith Ewing, IER and CTUF
- 1Chair: Sarah Woolley, BFAWU General Secretary & CTUF
At the event, entitled ‘Finishing the Job – Time to Deliver the New Deal for Working People in Full,’ trade union leaders, labour lawyers and academics will argue the case for further legislation to deliver the promises made on ending fire and rehire, creating a single status of workers, delivering sectoral collective bargaining and removing the restrictions on the right to strike. They will demand that Andy Burnham uses his position as Labour leader and PM to deliver the legislation as intended in the ‘New Deal for Working People’ (2021), which formed the basis of the Employment Rights Act 2025. In a publication, written to coincide with TUC Congress, CTUF and the IER propose eight simple measures which Burnham’s Government could introduce in advance of full implementation of the New Deal for Working People. With one exception (tribunal reform), they would cost nothing while demonstrating to workers and trade unions that the Government is on their side. IER Director James Harrison said:
“When Andy Burnham took over from Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, he talked of wanting to “end 40 years of neoliberalism”. If he’s serious about even beginning that huge task, our new PM must grasp the nettle on workers’ rights. So far, he hasn’t addressed the fact that the Employment Rights Act leaves gaps that allow bad employers to carry on exploiting workers and denies the trade union movement the tools and freedom to organise in response. This Act will do very little to arrest and reverse the continued political managed decline of trade union membership since 1980.” At the end of the IER / CTUF event (approx. 8.15pm), there is a General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) social event at Horatios, Brighton Palace Pier, where there will be fish and chips on the pier.
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- You can follow the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom on Twitter/X and Facebook.
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