The Employment Rights Act (ERA) became law last December 2025, though many of its provisions are still to come into force. Its proponents and defenders often describe it as biggest improvement to workers' rights for a generation - depressingly they are probably right, even if not in quite the way they mean. The ERA does confer improved legal benefits for workers, both individually and collectively, and is almost certainly superior to anything introduced by any government for over a quarter of a century. But it is highly limited, focussed on individual rather than collective rights and the development and enforcement of it is already flawed.
While in opposition the Labour Party talked up its intentions to improve rights for workers by "banning zero hours contracts", establishing "day one" employment rights for workers, to "outlaw fire and rehire", and more. Yet even before the 2024 General Election pressure from bosses had the Labour Party backtracking on some of these pledges, which were furthered watered down after the election as the bill went through parliament.
By the time the Act became law zero hour contracts were limited rather than banned, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims was six months rather than day one, "fire and rehire" had not been banned but had been restricted to a limited extent. In terms of collective rights some existing anti-trade union legislation was rolled back, the Minimum Service Levels Act 2023 was repealed, the mandate for legal industrial action after a ballot increased from six to twelve months, and the 50% turnout threshold for ballots for industrial action to be removed (although this element has not come into effect at the time of going to print).
In addition, in October 2025, Matthew Taylor, a former Blair adviser, who had worked for the May government was appointed as CEO of the Fair Work Agency (FWA), the agency that was created by the ERA as responsible for enforcing workers' rights. Taylor has announced strategic priorities for the FWA would include "reducing regulatory burdens". While trade unions bosses have made some verbal criticisms there has been little real fightback about the Labour Party's capitulation to employers interests.
Overall, the ERA provides a good example of how the state, parliamentary parties and large trade unions cannot be relied upon in the fight for better conditions for workers (let alone the securing of control of work by workers). 'Employment rights' are fundamentally nonsensical, the aim of the state is to support capital in exploiting workers, what rights workers have are this that they have forced from the state and capital via their own actions. While workers can, and should, look for opportunities that might arrive out of the ERA or other 'employment rights', ultimately we must rely on ourselves in the fight against bosses - that means organising together, joining up struggles where we can and looking for new opportunities to develop our class power.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/jackdaw_low-res.pdf
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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