TUC wants a permanent scheme to shield workers 'during tough periods'

THE Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged the government to develop a permanent scheme that will shield workers during tough periods, The Guardian reported.

The union body also demanded the government to abandon plans to scrap the furlough scheme by September end.

It pointed out that 23 members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – including Germany, Japan and individual US states – already had permanent schemes to protect workers during crisis.

Britain developed a wage subsidy scheme in March 2020. At the peak, almost 9 million people were furloughed but the number has fallen to below 2 million.

The Bank of England said last week the furlough had been key in preventing the surge in unemployment to the double-digit levels expected when the crisis began 18 months ago, and predicted that the jobless rate had peaked at 4.8 per cent.

The TUC, which helped design the furlough along with government officials and the Confederation of British Industry, said the same tripartite approach should be used to flesh out a plan for its replacement, the newspaper report said.

Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, told The Guardian: “Furlough has been a lifeline for millions of working people during the pandemic. Now is the time for the government to build on the success of furlough with a short-time working scheme – not throw away its good work.”

The cost of the Treasury’s furlough stood at £67bn at the end of July, with a further £25bn spent on support for the self-employed.

However, according to TUC, in more normal times spending on short-term working schemes would be about 10 per cent of those levels.

Workers would continue to receive 80 per cent of their wages for any time on the scheme, with a guarantee that no one would fall below the minimum wage for their normal working hours, as per the proposal by the TUC.

The other proposals are-any worker working less than 90 per cent of their normal working hours would have to be offered funded training and there will be time limits for the scheme with extension possible in limited circumstances.

Besides, firms would have to demonstrate a reduction in demand – which could include restructuring – commit to paying corporation tax in the UK and not pay dividends while using the scheme.

“In a changing and unpredictable world – as we battle climate change and new technologies emerge – a permanent short-time working scheme would help make our labour market more resilient and protect jobs and livelihoods,"

O’Grady told The Guardian.

“Too often in the past, periods of economic and industrial change have been badly mismanaged – increasing inequalities and leaving working people and whole communities abandoned.”