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TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said she did not receive the post-Brexit guarantees she was seeking from Theresa May on jobs and workers’ rights after meeting her in Downing Street today.
Trade union general secretaries visited the Prime Minister separately to demand that she extend Article 50 and rule out a “no-deal Brexit” as an option.
“More time is needed for genuine talks,” Ms O’Grady urged.
“The Prime Minister should do the right thing and take a no-deal off the table so that genuine dialogue can take place,” she said.
“We have a PM on a temporary contract — she cannot bind the hands of a future prime minister.
“People wanting her job are on record as saying Brexit is an opportunity to reduce workers’ rights.”
Public-sector union Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said that a customs union would “solve the issues with Northern Ireland, protect the Good Friday Agreement and allow Britain to keep close links to its biggest trading partner.
“But with precious little time on the clock, an extension of Article 50 is essential to bring the country back from the brink and the calamity of a no-deal.”
GMB general secretary Tim Roache said Ms May did not agree to his request for extending Article 50.
Ms May has wasted two-and-a-half years leaving Brexit talks with trade union leaders until the last minute, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said.
After meeting her for the first time, he stressed that a no-deal Brexit would be “disastrous” and suggested she extend Article 50 beyond March 29 for three months.
He said that trade union general secretaries would have pointed out the flaws in her Brexit plan if she had met them earlier.
Mr McCluskey referred to Labour MP Yvette Cooper’s amendment to the Brexit plan that seeks to extend Article 50 by nine months unless a deal is reached by the end of February — an amount of time he said would “probably be too long.”
Her amendment is one of many that could be voted on next Tuesday if selected by Commons speaker John Bercow.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was “statesmanlike” to refuse to meet the Prime Minister unless she ruled out a no-deal Brexit, Mr McCluskey said.
