MP backs rights for workers at Formby and Aintree M&S stores

Bill Esterson MP is pictured with his Labour colleague Melanie Onn

Sefton Central Labour MP, Bill Esterson is backing a campaign to protect constituents who work for M&S and B&Q following cuts in pay. The MP is also supporting efforts to protect workers rights as we leave the EU.

Bill Esterson was one of a number of MPs who backed attempts to change the law a few weeks ago and is now supporting efforts to make sure workers rights are protected after we leave the EU.

Labour is also trying to amend the legislation going through parliament about what life will be like in Britain following Brexit and keeping workers rights is one of a number of protections, which the party is attempting to secure.

Sefton Central MP, Bill Esterson said, “My colleague, Siobhain McDonagh MP has been running a longstanding campaign on behalf of shop workers. She highlighted the issue using B&Q and Marks and Spencer as examples of retailers who have cut workers' take-home pay to meet the increases to the Minimum Wage. A number of my constituents have spoken to me about the cuts to pay that they have faced at the Formby and Aintree stores.

“Some M&S staff reported losses of £1000 to £2000 a year. Siobhan’s efforts have seen a petition with 90,000 signatures presented at Marks' swanky Marble Arch headquarters and achieved an increased pay offer.

“But there is more to do, M&S are not alone and it is a difficult to get media coverage in support of this vital campaign on behalf of workers on some of the lowest pay in the country. After the referendum vote last June all workers could have, not just their wages under threat, but also their rights. That is why I have supported my other colleague Grimsby MP Melanie Onn on her Bill to protect workers' rights.

“No opposition was forthcoming when Melanie moved her Bill that highlighted the need to uphold a number of protections - such as consultations over redundancies, paid holiday, rest breaks, and parents having the right to take time-off to care for a sick child - regulations bound by EU legislation, and which now need to be included on the UK's law books.

“These are all things which are standard until we have finally left the EU, and we shouldn't be going backwards. We do not want to go back to the bad old days. The workers in Britain have felt the benefits of such changes.

“I respect the referendum result, but it should not mean rights are cut. This is about the reality we face today. It is right that first and foremost stability is provided and that the Government does everything in its power to protect what we already have.

“Nobody who works at M&S at Formby or Aintree, who voted in the referendum voted to have their pay cut, to lose their job or to see their conditions undermined at work. As we leave the EU, we must put jobs, the economy and prosperity first.

“The work that Siobhan and Melanie have done is crucial to making sure that we have a better Brexit and that is why it is so important that parliament and the government supports what my Labour colleagues are doing.”