Corbyn Gears Up for Election With Pledge to Help British Workers

(Bloomberg) -- Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn promised sweeping changes to British workers’ rights and an attack on those who “hoard the wealth and dodge their taxes” if his Labour Party wins a U.K. general election.

Labour would create a Ministry for Employment Rights and a Workers’ Protection Agency to enforce new laws, Corbyn told the Trades Union Congress in Brighton on Tuesday. The agency would have the power to enter workplaces and bring prosecutions on a behalf of employees.

Despite having twice blocked the government’s bid for a snap election, Corbyn is in campaign mode as the U.K. gears up for a national ballot expected in the fall. Labour says it will vote to allow Prime Minister Boris Johnson to trigger an election once he has delayed the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline. Corbyn warned that Johnson’s pursuit of a no-deal split from the EU would lead to a lopsided U.S. trade deal, with Britain at the mercy of President Donald Trump and American corporations.

The Labour leader announced proposed laws which would seek to strengthen worker’s rights and boost the power of labor unions. Those include:

• Creating a single status of ‘worker’ for everyone who is not self-employed
• Closing a loophole that allows companies to pay agency workers less than other employees
• A higher minimum wage of 10 pounds ($12) per hour by 2020 for workers over 16
• Banning unpaid internships and zero-hours contracts
• Boosting the power of trade unions and repealing the 2016 Trade Union Act

In his speech, Corbyn accused Johnson of representing the “born-to-rule establishment” and wealthy people who “hoard the wealth and dodge their taxes.”

“If you’re a worker with a boss who makes you work extra hours for no pay or forces you into dangerous situations, you deserve a government that’s on your side and ready to step in to support you,” he said.

Deal With Trump

Labour’s priority, Corbyn said, is to stop a no-deal Brexit, and only then will the party pursue a general election. He warned that in any national vote, Johnson’s strategy will be clear. “He wants to stage a showdown over a no-deal Brexit that he can repackage as a battle between Parliament and the people,” he told delegates.

The Labour leader warned that if Britain tumbles out of the EU without a deal, it will lead to “a one-sided U.S. trade deal negotiated from a position of weakness.”

“It will put us at the mercy of Trump and the big U.S. corporations itching to get their teeth further into our NHS, sound the death knell for our steel industry and permanently drive down rights and protections for workers,” Corbyn said. “Johnson’s reckless No Deal would destroy jobs, push up food prices in the shops and cause shortages of everyday medicines that people rely on.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Stuart Biggs

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