A Social Recovery, Workplace Democracy and Security: COVID-19 and Labour Law
(2021) 32(1) King's Law Journal 122
14 Pages Posted: 9 Feb 2021 Last revised: 3 May 2021
Date Written: February 8, 2021
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the painful consequences of poor job security and workplace democracy. The UK government’s initial flirt with ‘herd immunity’, the delay in lockdown, and the absence of a work strategy that prioritised safety after the summer, caused among the most appalling death rates in the world, worse than Trump’s America. However, a swift change in the job security policy stemmed mass unemployment, after initial reports of 2.1 million people claiming unemployment benefits. The ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ eventually meant that the unemployment statistics (as opposed to claimant count) showed only a modest jobless rise. Comparison with the US where there are effectively no rights, and other countries with strong rights, shows that universal social security and workplace democracy are at the core of successful economic performance. This paper explains the UK’s health and safety rights, how the job retention scheme was unfurled with extension to employed and self-employed, and the connection between votes at work and employment. It shows how reality discredits the minority views of economic theorists who oppose labour rights, and suggests the legal reforms we can undertake to achieve a social recovery.
Keywords: COVID-19, coronavirus, labour law, labor law, employment law, health, education, university, pandemic, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, health and safety, social security, workplace democracy
JEL Classification: K10, K31, K32, K34, I10, I13, I14, D01, D21, D22, E01, E24
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation