Workers should be given “full” employment rights from day one, Labour has said as it announces plans to “fundamentally change the economy”.
Currently some rights – such as being able to request flexible working – only kick in at a later stage.
Labour is also calling for a ban on “fire and re-hire” practices.
Minister Amanda Milling said the government had provided “unprecedented” support to workers during the pandemic through the furlough scheme.
The lifting of Covid restrictions has sparked a debate about inequality and the future of work in the UK.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said Britain was “at a fork in the road” as the country emerges from the pandemic.
And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer argued that the pandemic had revealed that “millions of workers don’t have the dignity and security they deserve from their job”.
Labour also points to research conducted by the TUC that found one in nine workers – 3.6 million people – had no pay or job security and three quarters of those on zero-hours contracts lost shifts during the pandemic.
Under proposals for a “new deal” for workers, Labour says staff should be given full rights from their first day of a new job.
Currently there are also some entitlements which do not come into force until a worker has been in a job for a certain period of time, for example statutory maternity pay, adoption, paternity and shared parental leave, and the right to request flexible working.
Labour also says it wants to outlaw “fire and rehire” practices whereby employers dismiss workers and then offer to hire them back under new, often poorer, terms and conditions.
The tactic has been around for decades, but has come to prominence during the pandemic as high profile companies have tried to make use of the procedure.
The party also says it would introduce a “real living wage” of at least £10 an hour, create “tens of thousands of apprenticeships” and implement “a level playing field on tax between multinational giants and local businesses.
Asked about the party’s own workforce, Ms Rayner acknowledged it was a “very worrying” time for staff who were being asked to take voluntary redundancy.
She said Labour was in “devastating circumstances” having lost general elections and resources and wanted to “change the way we do our work like any organisation goes through those times”.
“We want to make sure that the Labour Party is in a very lean, fit position to go forward to win the next general election,” she added.
‘A broken model’
After the party’s poor results in the English local elections in May, Ms Rayner was appointed to a new shadow cabinet role with responsibility for policies on the future of work.
She said the party wanted “good quality jobs” that pay a “proper wage that people can raise a family on”.
“Under the Conservatives we have a broken economic model defined by insecure work, low wages and in-work poverty and a lack of opportunity for people who want to get on and find good work to support themselves and their families.”
Amanda Milling MP, co-chairman of the Conservative Party, said the government had brought in an “unprecedented” furlough scheme which had paid the wages of 10 million workers during the pandemic; in addition to increasing the National Living Wage and “taking millions of the lowest paid out of paying income tax”.
She added: “While Labour carp from the sidelines, we’re continuing to support business while taking the tough decisions needed to rebuild from the pandemic and protect people’s jobs and livelihoods.”
Earlier this month, the prime minister set out what he called the “skeleton” of a plan to “level up” the country by spreading power and opportunity more evenly.
Ministers say it involves investing in transport, skills and businesses to address regional disparities, with more details expected in September.