LABOUR’S historic workers’ rights revolution has “more holes than Swiss cheese” allowing bosses to continue exploiting workers, unions warned yesterday as the Employment Rights Bill landed in Parliament.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the much-anticipated 149-page Bill stops short of making work pay and “ties itself up in knots trying to avoid what was promised.”

Caveats means it fails to ban fire and rehire and zero-hours contracts, and watered-down rules on giving workers access to unions will hinder their ability to fight for better pay and conditions through collective bargaining.

Unions also questioned why most of the Bill’s urgently needed employment reforms would take two years to come into force.

Ms Graham said: “This Bill is without doubt a significant step forward for workers but stops short of making work pay.

“The end to draconian laws like minimum service levels and the introduction of new individual rights, for example on bereavement leave, will be beneficial. But the Bill still ties itself up in knots trying to avoid what was promised.

“Failure to end fire and rehire and zero-hours contracts once and for all will leave more holes than Swiss cheese that hostile employers will use.”

The Bill’s fire-and-rehire caveats include allowing businesses at risk of complete collapse to alter terms and conditions.

Ms Graham added: “The Bill also fails to give workers the sort of meaningful rights to access a union for pay bargaining that would put more money in their pockets and, in turn, would aid growth.”

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said it was “disappointing” to see the series of reasons employers are allowed to use to refuse requests for flexible working.

“Failing to make flexible working the default will simply lead to more workplace disputes,” he warned.NEU,

The government’s Bill lists “reasonable” reasons as: the burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand; inability to reorganise work among existing staff; inability to recruit additional staff; detrimental impact on quality; detrimental impact on performance; insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work; and planned structural changes.

Mr Kebede however welcomed proposals to set up a formal body that can bargain collectively for the entire sector of school support staff.

The Bill sets out plans for a new school support staff negotiating body that will oversee pay, conditions of employment, training and career progression for school staff who are not teachers.

Mr Kebede said a negotiating body for school support staff has been “long overdue.”

The predominantly female and often low-paid workforce have endured 14 years of real-terms pay cuts and growing workload pressures.

“Collective bargaining via a new negotiating body can help to resolve these issues,” he said.

“This is why we believe teacher pay and conditions should also be determined via collective bargaining, not the discredited School Teachers Review Body.”

Carers will get similar provisions with a new adult social care negotiating body responsible for pay.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The means to create a fair-pay agreement to increase wages for care workers in England is game-changing.

“The two-tier workforce will be no more, with penny-pinching employers no longer able to treat outsourced workers less favourably than everyone else.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “It is vital that we get on with making work pay for all and get the implementation right.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Taking action to stop future P&O Ferries-type scandals is welcome as is the commitment to repeal anti-union laws and we look forward to developing sectoral collective bargaining with the government which is the best way for workers to win better pay and conditions.”

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the Bill “is a vital first step in delivering the New Deal and will put in place stronger rights for workers as well as repealing recent anti-trade union laws.”

University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady called for “more pernicious forms of exploitation — seen in universities with postgraduate researchers being denied important terms and conditions” to be addressed as well.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said: “A fair pay agreement in social care, enshrined in law, and a new body to root out care worker exploitation are measures the RCN has long been calling for.”