Meeting of the Parliament 26 May 2016
Maybe the member should sit and learn something—rudeness will not get him anywhere.
However, thanks to the EU written statement directive, employees must be given a written statement setting out their pay and working conditions within 28 days of starting work. The working time directive, which was implemented in the UK in 1998, introduced a maximum 48-hour working week—normally averaged over 17 weeks—a daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours, a weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours and rest breaks during the working day. Those are the regulations that some Tories would like to take away from people.
On maternity rights, the EU pregnant workers directive of 1992 led to substantial improvements in health and safety protections for expectant and new mothers in the workplace.
I turn to equal pay, about which there is a lot of misinformation. The right to equal pay for men and women for equal work was indeed formulated in the UK. It was made a fundamental right and is enshrined in article 157 of the EU treaty, which is directly enforceable in UK courts. The founding treaty of the European Economic Community stated that member states with equal pay legislation should not be undercut by others that underpaid women workers and exploited their weaker labour market position. Article 157, together with the equal pay directive and ECJ case law, have had a significant positive impact on women’s pay and pension rights in the UK. I know that the Equal Pay Act 1970 pre-dated the UK joining the EU, but it had a glaring omission because it did not cover equal pay for work of equal value. That is where the difference lies.
Let us look at discrimination. The UK already had sex and race discrimination laws in place when it joined the EU and it introduced the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 before the EU took action. However, legislation on age, religion and belief and sexual orientation discrimination was introduced as a direct result of the EU framework directive for equal treatment in 2000.
Let us not even start on human rights. Human rights are something that we should all agree on. The European convention on human rights and the charter reaffirm our collective rights in this place and at this time.
As we have heard, there are a lot of things to be proud of in being a member of the EU. My question to members is whether we should vote to leave and give the UK Government, unfettered by EU regulations, carte blanche to withdraw all those rights—and when the UK Government talks about “regulations”, it means those rights. Instead, should we vote to remain and fight to reform and create the Europe that our young people want? I say oui, tak, ja and si to remain.
10:46