Workers need a voice to enforce their rights

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady at a press conference in Manchester. ‘It is curious that neither Labour nor the TUC, nor left thinktanks and writers, seem interested in discussing what reforms are needed in the new world of 21st-century work to allow workers a voice and representation,’ writes Denis MacShane. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Trade unions were not part of the argument in your editorial on workers’ rights (31 December). They are the best enforcers of legal workers’ rights and the best signal-senders that something bad or wrong is happening in the workplace. Failing trade unions, other forms of worker representation like works councils can play a role. The state of trade unions in Britain is well-known. It is curious that neither Labour nor the TUC, nor left thinktanks and writers, seem interested in discussing what reforms are needed in the new world of 21st-century work to allow workers a voice and representation. Matthew Taylor’s proposals are all in the right direction, but without employees having their own voice and representation in the workplace their rights, however pretty on paper, will remain weak and unenforced.
Dr Denis MacShane
London