Email your MP about “fair play on redundancies” - Unions together

Time is running out. Email your MP now to support this campaign. Check out this excellent short video of from grass roots Labour supporting trade unionists. They explain why they think it is so important that redundancy rates needs to be significantly increased. I posted on this last month about how we also need to stop any race to the bottom by good employers who pay above the rate.

Below is an urgent message from Tony Woodley

This Friday, Members of Parliament will have the chance to vote to make redundancy pay fairer, as Lindsay Hoyle MP's Bill is due to receive its second reading in the Commons.

Labour's trade unions have worked together on this campaign, to get a better deal for workers - a better deal that is more important than ever in these tough economic times.

Unions work hard to look after their members' jobs - but when redundancies do happen, unions also want to make sure that those affected get a fair deal. But for most workers, if they are made redundant, the payment they would get for each year of service is not based on how much they earn a week - it is capped at £350 - about half of average earnings.

This is an issue that matters to millions of ordinary working people up and down the country - thousands of people have got in touch with their MPs to ask them to support the Bill. Earlier this week, we asked our supporters to get in touch with us to let us know why fair redundancy pay matters to them.

Being made redundant has a huge impact on individuals, families and communities. It's only fair that we make sure people get the fairest deal possible.

We have had great support for this campaign from Labour Members of Parliament, and we urge them to turn out this Friday to vote the Bill through. And we also hope the government listens - to their own MPs, to the trade unions, and to all the ordinary people who deserve a better deal - and acts to right this wrong.

Tony Woodley
Chair, TULO - Labour's unions togetherJoint General Secretary, Unite the Union

PS. Email your MP now if you haven't yet done so.

Fair Deal on Redundancy

I’ve just emailed my MP to ask her to support the “Unions Together” campaign in support of the proposed bill to increase statutory redundancy pay.

Check out the link here to email your MP. You only need your post code and it took me 2 minutes. Forward the link to as many people as you can.

Many employers do pay above the statutory minimum but unless we get this increased then good employers run the risk of being under pressure to pay less. It would be a race to the bottom that we do not want to take part.

This is the request from Helen at Unions Together

"On Friday March 13th, Lindsay Hoyle MP will be putting forward a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Commons that would uprate the current level of statutory redundancy pay – the minimum that workers can expect to be paid if they are laid off. When it was first introduced, this was more than double the average weekly wage. But because it has not been increased with inflation, it is now worth only half of average pay. This is an important issue for working people, particularly in these turbulent economic times.

Because of the rules on Private Member’s Bills, we need enough MPs to turn up to support the Bill, or any MP who opposes it can just “talk out” the Bill, preventing it even getting to a vote. It is crucial that we ensure there are enough Labour MPs supporting the Bill in the House of Commons on March 13th so it can move forward. That’s where you can help – by writing to your MP and asking them to be in the House of Commons for the debate".

Join "Unions Together" facebook here

UPDATE: I got an email response from my MP Lyn Brown this morning and we will have a "talk" about this issue.