Kemi Badenoch defended legislation introducing the right to versatile work in a conversation with businessman James Dyson, despite having openly stated her opposition to the measures during the Conservative leadership election.
Minutes of a meeting during her tenure as business secretary last June, seen by The Guardian, show the pair discussed the Conservative government's plans for flexible working laws, with Dyson expressing concerns about the impact they would have on her business.
After the meeting, Badenoch ordered a review of the impact of the flexible work bill, which gave workers the right to apply for flexible work. The bill had already been passed and became law. the following month.
The documents show that during the meeting Badenoch defended the bill, telling Dyson that flexible working “goes beyond working from home, such as the ability to work compressed hours.” “[The] “The bill seeks to allow employees to request them from the first day of employment, not force companies to reach an agreement,” he said.
Dyson, the vacuum cleaner entrepreneur, said the bill “would cause significant problems for Dyson” because it requires all Dyson employees to be in the office, and “the bill makes it difficult for Dyson to impose these additional resource requirements.” humans.”
The document, released under the freedom of information law, claims Dyson told Badenoch there was “no need to legislate on this matter”. Then he points out: “SoS [secretary of state] I would like to review this bill and its impacts on businesses. mail [private office] order a pager.” This document is likely to include a basic description of the law's impact on businesses.
It was a 2019 Conservative manifesto commitment to give workers the right to apply for flexible work from the first day of a new job. But Badenoch has since openly opposed versatile working, as well as arguing that small businesses already bear too much of a burden for rights such as maternity pay and the minimum wage.
She said in September: “I find it extraordinary that the Labor Party is scraping the policy barrel here to find more forms of flexible working when actually we need more people to enter the workplace. “They are not learning, they are not acquiring the skills at the same rate as before, which is one of the challenges of working from home.”
Badenoch told TalkTV he supported working from home “where it makes sense, but it shouldn't necessarily be the default. What is extraordinary is that Labor has had 14 years to think about what it wants to do with the economy. “They have no answers.”
The Conservative leadership candidate also caused controversy at the Conservative Party conference when she described maternity pay as “excessive” when it was paid out of taxes, and said people had more children when maternity pay did not exist. Badenoch has since stated that she is not against maternity pay.
He also cited the minimum wage as an example of a burden on businesses, telling a party conference event: “There is a cafe in my constituency that closed and the lady owner said: 'I can't afford to pay the wages.' not anymore. I can't pay minimum wage. “I cannot afford for my staff to go to maternity leave.”
A spokesman for Badenoch said: “Versatile labor legislation was a Labor PMB. [private member’s bill] accepted by a previous business secretary. Kemi had major concerns with this bill but, as the minutes show, he wanted to make sure Dyson was aware of key provisions.
“As chief executive of one of the country's leading manufacturing companies, Kemi took James Dyson's concerns very seriously and commissioned a review based on the issues he raised at this meeting.”
Emily Thornberry, former shadow prosecutor general, said: “Kemi Badenoch’s appalling record in government still persists. It is clear that, like all Conservative leadership contenders, she has learned nothing from the public rejection of 14 years of Conservative government, which left workers worse off.
“This week, as the Conservatives debated scrapping maternity pay and the minimum wage, the Labor government unveiled plans for the biggest boost to workers' rights in a generation. “That is the difference the Labor Party makes in power.”
Dyson declined to comment, but a company source said the businessman was right to make those arguments – which reflect his public position – and to meet with senior politicians as an employer of thousands of UK scientists and engineers.
Dyson has said that its company's employees should be present in laboratories, research and work spaces to work side by side on product development and design, as well as learn and teach each other.
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