Committee Corridor: Rights at work and season update

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In the final episode of the current series of Committee Corridor, host of the podcast Joanna Cherry MP reflects on some of the key themes of the series and updates on new developments. The episode also examines workers’ rights protections including discrimination against women during menopause, the impact of emerging technologies on workers and protection from unfair dismissal.

This series, the Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and SNP MP, has been joined by colleagues in Parliament and experts from the wider world to look at hard hitting human rights issues which select committees have considered. She reflects on what was learned and looks at what further progress has been made in areas included the fight against modern slavery, the crisis in the courts and the heart-breaking stories of children adopted between the 1940s and ‘70s simply because their mothers weren’t married.

Chair of the Business and Trade Committee and Labour MP, Darren Jones and Women and Equalities (WEC) Committee Chair, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes discuss the work their committees have done on workers’ rights. WEC has recently published a report highlight the challenges faced by women in the workplace during menopause. Caroline Nokes described its aims and its findings:

“It was a really important opportunity for the voice of older workers to be heard, and for them to put across to the committee the challenges they were facing with necessary adjustments not being made in the workplace, about employers without understanding of menopause or certainly, without any policies in place to tackle it.”

“The menopause has, according to some stats, driven almost a million women out of work altogether. And so, our message to Government, which we’re struggling to get them to agree to, is you can make some small changes, which could have a really beneficial impact.”

Darren Jones talked about the work his committee did in partnership with the Transport Committee to examine the treatment of workers by P&O Ferries:

“Our job as the Select Committees was basically to shine a light on that, to apply as much public pressure to the owners and leaders of P&O Ferries and to try and encourage ministers to take action. And at that time, the CEO of P&O Ferries basically said to the committee, “I knew what the law was, I broke it, I did it on purpose, and I would do it again.”

“Has there been fundamental change? No, not really. There's still a need to bring forward legislation to update workers' rights and to improve the enforcement of workers' rights.”

Caroline Nokes also talked about a new inquiry into misogyny in the music industry:

“It was shocking to me to hear concert pianists and professional musicians in classical music also talking to us about the misogyny they'd faced. It was really interesting to have female music technicians and roadies come and share their experience.”

“The stark reality is that they don't have anyone to complain to. Even if they did have somebody obvious to complain to, they were scared that to make a complaint would mean that they didn't work again… you talk about the music industry and everybody instantly thinks it's a very glamorous and well-paid life. But actually, for many musicians, it's not that at all. And they really are working incredibly hard to go from one job to the next with no security whatsoever and with no rights.”

As evolving technologies and artificial intelligence continue to transform business and the world of work, Darren Jones talked about what his committee heard about its use:

“Businesses have used technology, whether it's handheld devices or CCTV cameras, or other ways of tracking productivity or performance, but they've not included workers from the very start of that journey to understand what the impact is on them.”

“There's definitely a need in terms of enforcement bodies from Government probably in terms of guidance, possibly in terms of regulation to either encourage or force employers to think much more about the impact of this technology on workers from the very start of them thinking about implementing it, as opposed to thinking about it when a problem arises.”

There will be six further episodes of Committee Corridor, taking the podcast up to the summer recess. Details of the hosts and episodes will be announced in the coming weeks.