Speeches by Bance.

“If there was a store manager on site who was performing task management and allocating tasks to these workers in what sense were these workers self-employed?”

“When I worked in retail, both in the back room and when serving customers as a directly employed employee, I was expected to follow the instructions of the store manager. Were these workers employed through Temper expected to follow the instructions and complete the tasks assigned to them by the store manager or anothe…”

“One of the things that many of us are pleased about is the idea that some of the enforcement, particularly through the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, will move from the Home Office to DBT. Making sure that there is clear separation between Home Office functions and labour market enforcement functions is very i…”

“However, in November 2022, Bloomberg found the presence of cotton from Xinjiang in garments sold by SHEIN on two occasions. Are you still using cotton from Xinjiang?”

“Are you confident that you are in compliance with the UK Modern Slavery Act?”

“I absolutely agree with that point. We heard earlier from the British Retail Consortium about the possibility of onshoring some fashion manufacturing but the inability to guarantee labour standards in the UK in clothing manufacturing meant that it was unable to do that. We know where clothing is made. The predecessor C…”

“We have heard on a number of occasions this afternoon about the need for greater resource to be available for labour market enforcement. The spend has been flat since 2010. The ILO benchmark is one labour market inspector per 10,000 workers, and we are only a third of the way there at the moment. If we were to reach th…”

“You have talked about the importance of culture being led from the top, but I am afraid I need to return to this issue of employment contracts because I just do not see how you can root out harassment and bullying and create a culture where people can speak up when nine in 10 of your workers are employed on zero-hours …”

“Thank you, Mr Opie, for your patience. This one is for you, if you would like to lead off. In the Employment Rights Bill, the Government propose the creation of a new Fair Work Agency. We would be interested in your thoughts about what the Government need to do to make sure that it protects the most vulnerable workers …”

“We have heard that the resources available for enforcement in this country are not adequate and do not meet international standards. Do you have a comment on resourcing?”

“The solicitors company, Leigh Day, is acting for Stop Uyghur Genocide and recently sent managers at SHEIN a dossier setting out likely forced labour abuses in the SHEIN supply chain in Xinjiang. Leigh Day sent the dossier in August 2024. I have read the dossier, the Committee have had the dossier, and it is appalling. …”

“I understand that you are a solicitor, registered and regulated in England and Wales. Given that individuals can be prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act, are you comfortable that no criminal liability attaches to you, yourself, now that you have seen the dossier?”

“You have not understood. It absolutely is a cultural issue. If a manager can say, “If you behave in a way I do not like, I will not give you the shifts that you need next week”, or, “If you do not give me this sexual favour, I will not give you the shifts that you need next week”, by definition, that is how zero-hours …”

“In November.”

“Amanda, welcome and thank you for being here to represent the workers you organise. It is appreciated. The GMB has described how Amazon exerted control over information and swamped its workers with anti-union material during the GMB union’s recognition bid in the Coventry warehouse. What effect did this have on your ab…”

“Would you characterise this as an open and neutral space in which Amazon workers could make their decision as to whether they wished to be represented by their union, or not?”

“Is this usual, Amanda? Is this the way companies normally behave when a union says, “Do you know what? We have a large mass of workers who would like to be represented by a union and we’d like to open a conversation about recognition with you”? Is this normal?”

“This is a question about penalties. I may have this wrong, but I seem to recall that P&O priced in the cost of losing the employment tribunals in the offers that they made to their workers, thereby making an absolute mockery of UK law. Colleagues are seeking to ensure that that sort of thing does not happen. I wanted t…”

“Beverley, I had not heard that criticism of the Employment Rights Bill before. As a trade unionist, I would very much like to see a higher rate of unionisation in the private sector. Many of your supply chain businesses are in my constituency in the west midlands—I go and see them—and the vast majority are not unionise…”

“Thank you.”