Luke Fletcher MS sets outs Plaid Cymru's policies on workers' rights

The past several years have been unimaginably difficult for the vast majority of people in the UK.

The cost-of-living crisis, inflation, soaring housing, food and energy costs, as well as the industrial disputes that followed in the wake of the resultant profiteering has meant that most have had little, if any, financial breathing room.

This gives the current General Election period a particular sense of urgency, an urgency that is both indicative of the need for a transformation in the way our society operates and yet neutralised by the hot air, bland delirium and lack of ambition from Westminster’s governing duopoly.

Starved of relevant ideas and with no obvious distinction to be drawn between the substance of Labour and Tory policies, the pitch of both parties appears to be a promise that they will each manage more competently than the other what is the dire nature of contemporary Britain for ordinary people. The chronic crisis of everyday liveability caused by energy, housing, food and fuel costs is altogether unmanageable. Without a major step change and direct focus on people’s living standards, levels of hardship will remain just as significant as they have been thus far, if not worse.

The recent strike waves, industrial action, and extra-parliamentary activity that we have seen in recent years has been a part of a broader wave of popular discontent regarding the state of our economy, how our markets operate – and, crucially, for whom they operate – and the seeming inability of our governments to do anything radical about the crises afflicting many.

Plaid Cymru is of the firm belief that, fundamentally, an economy is about people, an idea reflected in our General Election manifesto. The rights we uphold for people – the creators of social and economic value in our society – inside and outside the workplace forms part of our foundational premise that any manifesto for Wales must reflect the kind of society and economy we want to see, the things that we value and the types of lives we want to make possible. It must, in other words, work for people.

An economy that works for people must surely have at its core a strong raft of measures to support workers’ rights. Having witnessed the creeping authoritarianism of the Conservative UK Government and their rowing back on workers’ rights, within a broader system that increasingly threatens and disciplines workers, employment rights require urgent strengthening. Legislation such as the new Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 is symptomatic of the heavy-handed responses to anti-austerity movements. A government that polices the response to a crisis, rather than address the crisis itself, is a government unfit for the role of governing.

This side of the M4, Plaid Cymru has previously called on the Welsh Labour Government to demand the devolution of employment law to Wales to safeguard workers from this draconian anti-strike legislation. The right to strike for fair pay and good working conditions is an integral part of the rights that should be afforded to everyone in the UK. With a Conservative government intent on repealing that right altogether, and with a government in Wales that doesn’t seem to want the powers to protect it, Plaid Cymru would devolve employment law and reverse the Tories’ regressive anti-strike legislation.

We would also support legislation to tackle precarious work – outlawing fire and re-hire practices as well as abolishing compulsory zero-hours contracts – and provide paid bereavement and miscarriage leave as ‘day one employment rights’. We would also look to establish the right to ‘disconnect’, a right to not be routinely contacted about work outside normal working hours. Furthermore, following the introduction of the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 which provides a right to five days unpaid leave to care for a person with a long-term need, Plaid Cymru believes a similar provision for paid leave should be considered.

But it is also wages as well as rights that must be bolstered. During the recent strike waves, Plaid Cymru Members of the Senedd were consistently out on picket lines standing in solidarity with doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who were undertaking – and continue to undertake – industrial action on pay and wage restoration. Plaid Cymru believes that wages restoration pledges for NHS staff must be implemented as soon as possible.

For some time, Plaid Cymru has been working to develop a National Care Service that provides social care free at the point of use and we are resolutely committed to a consultation on the elimination of profit in children’s services provision. Our aim is to work towards the gradual expansion in capacity of direct provision, in both children’s services and adult services to achieve this. This work cannot be carried out unless we ensure that a social care workforce has the full weight of government support.

As such, Plaid Cymru is committed to paying social care workers at least £1 above the Real Living Wage, with this amount indexed to inflation. This policy ensures that full-time workers will earn over £1,800 more annually than the Real Living Wage, to adequately reward this skilled and indispensable work. Through these measures, we aim to build a strong and compassionate care system for Wales that adequately remunerates its workforce.

Plaid Cymru envisions a society where the well-being of its citizens is paramount. We must work to build systems that underpin this, whether economic, in health or in education. By addressing job insecurity, safeguarding workers’ fundamental right to strike, we aim to build a fairer and more resilient Wales. Our commitment, ultimately, is to the people of Wales and ensuring that a decent standard of living, where everyone has access to the resources they need to live full and dignified lives, is available to everyone.

As our demands make clear, Plaid Cymru will fight for the powers we need to engage in the genuine transformation of our economy, our health service, social care, and our education system. Our goal is to prove that in Wales, there is a refreshing alternative to the same old Westminster politics and a genuine offer that puts the interests of Wales and its many diverse communities first. Whether it’s farmers, steelworkers, small business owners or unpaid carers, learners, and our elderly, Plaid Cymru will always demand the best for the people of Wales.

Luke Fletcher is a Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for South Wales West. He is Plaid Cymru’s economy spokesperson.

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