Mothers will be given maternity pay for a full year after the birth of their children and all employees will have a right to work flexibly as part of a Labour manifesto pledge to improve life for parents.
Dawn Butler, Labour’s shadow women and equalities secretary, said she wanted to see a “step change in how women are treated at work”, which would be reflected in the party’s manifesto when it is published in a few weeks’ time.
She said Labour would stick with its 2017 pledge to increase statutory maternity pay from nine to 12 months, allowing mothers or partners sharing parental leave to spend a full year between them with their newborn babies.
The party has also promised to give workers the right to choose working hours that suit them through a “presumption in favour of flexible work” – putting the onus on employers to explain why if they could not offer that.
Labour has already pledged to create a workers’ protection agency with powers to fine organisations that fail to report their gender pay, publish action plans to reduce pay gaps or take satisfactory measures to close the pay gap.
Butler said all large employers, under Labour’s proposals, would be forced to introduce a menopause workplace policy to break the stigma associated with it and pledged to do more to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace.
She said she was “sick of how women are treated at work” and argued that “audits are not enough” in an implicit criticism of Theresa May’s moves to measure inequality in the workplace.
Butler said: “Next Thursday, it is equal pay day, the day when women effectively stop getting paid for the rest of the year compared to their male counterparts. It’s a disgrace.
“We’ll extend the amount of time a new mother can spend with her newborn by extending statutory maternity pay to 12 months, so that all mothers can afford to spend those vital early months with their baby.
“Labour will deliver a workplace revolution to bring about a step change in how women are treated at work. We’ll boost pay, increase flexibility and strengthen protections against harassment and discrimination. After years of our concerns being ignored, it’s time for real change.”
The plans represent part of a wider package from Labour to improve conditions for workers. Another major plank would be having union equality representatives elected by workers to promote equality, diversity and inclusion. They would make sure trade union equality representatives have legal rights to time off, training and facilities to perform their duties.
On the gender pay gap, the party – if elected to govern – plans to amend regulations so that by 2020 the threshold would be lowered to workplaces with more than 50 employees, down from the current level of more than 250 employees.