#LabourMEPs: 'We must fight to ensure our workplace rights are protected and work to strengthen them'

Labour MEPs have welcomed on 25 February the TUC report detailing the major employment rights that would be at risk if the UK left the EU, and reiterated calls for these rights not just to be protected but extended.

Glenis Willmott MEP, Labour's Leader in the European Parliament, said:

"As a result of our EU membership, working people have major rights like paid annual leave, equal pay, protection from discrimination, parental leave, protections for pregnant women and new mothers, and fair treatment for part-time workers. The workplace rights of millions of working people will be under threat, as well as the jobs that are dependent on our trade with EU countries, if we vote to leave the European Union.

"When you look at what the Tory government is doing with the trade union bill, just imagine what they will do if we were outside the EU, and they were free to water down and abolish these rights.

"It is thanks to the work of Labour MEPs and our trade union colleagues that British workers will continue to enjoy these rights if we vote to remain in the EU, and we will work to strengthen these protections. For example, we are pressing the European Commission and national governments to take action on zero-hours contracts and insecure work, which millions of working people are subject to, denying them financial security."

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