The IER Podcast

In accordance with the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA), a new Fair Work Agency (FWA) was launched on the 7 April 2026.
The initial 'New Deal for Workers' (2021) said that 'Rights and protections are only worth the paper they are written on if they are enforced'. In this episode of the Working Life Podcast, we take a look at the hurdles this new agency is likely to face in its ambition towards achieving a significant improvement in compliance levels in the field of employment law.
We are especially pleased to have Professor David Whyte (Professor of Climate Justice at the QMUL School of Law and author of 'Ecocide: kill the corporation before it kills us') on. David is one of the foremost academic experts on the relationship between law and corporate power, with a unique level of expertise on issues ranging from working conditions, institutional fraud and corruption, human rights violations, and the institutions around the enforcement of labor rights, in which he is a great expert.
David has also co-authored (with Professor Ruth Dukes (Glasgow) the IER Briefing on the Fair Work Agency, which we recommend taking a look at once you've given the episode a listen. You can access it by following this link: https://www.ier.org.uk/publications/briefing-the-governments-fair-work-agency-risks-becoming-a-toothless-watchdog/
In this episode, Professor Nicola Countouris (UCL and IER) talks to David about the FWA, what its strategic priorities are, the consequences of public sector funding cuts, and what the agency will need in order to be effective and credible.

Neil Todd, leading trade union law expert and Partner at Thompsons Solicitors and Carolyn Jones, Senior Vice President of the Institute of Employment Rights (IER), join us for the third episode of Working Life.
In this episode, we revisit the detrimental practice of fire and rehire and examine where the Employment Rights Act 2025 ultimately landed after the government's initial pledge to ban the practice outright.
We explore where the Act strengthens protections for workers facing attempts to erode their terms and conditions through dismissal and re-engagement, and whether it goes far enough to prevent employers from exploiting potential loopholes. Neil unpacks the new provisions, explaining which contractual changes are covered, the circumstances in which employers may still rely on statutory exceptions, and whether tribunal remedies will provide a sufficient deterrent against unlawful practices.
Drawing on lessons from the P&O Ferries dismissals in 2022, we ask whether the new framework will genuinely end the misuse of fire and rehire, or simply reshape the calculations some employers may make when considering it.
 
Chapters:
00:00:06 Introduction
00:01:48 Changes made by the Employment Rights Act 2025
00:04:08 Does the Act address the P&O scenario?
00:06:07 How the Act’s initial provisions were weakened
00:07:47 The Government’s consultation process on fire and rehire and restricted variations
00:11:23 The ‘financial difficulties’ exemption
00:15:01 Remedies and interim relief

In the latest episode of ‘Working Life’, IER Chairperson Lord John Hendy KC discusses the right to strike in the UK with Professor Tonia Novitz, a leading academic in labour law at the University of Bristol Centre for Law at Work. She sits on the advisory board of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) and is co-editor of ‘The Right to Strike Reimagined’ (Bloomsbury 2026,) as well as co-author of ‘The Right to Strike in International Law’ (Bloomsbury 2021). 
In this second instalment of the Working Life Podcast, Lord Hendy KC and Professor Novitz begin with a historical discussion of the first recorded instances of strike action in Ancient Egypt, and what we mean today by calling for an enshrined positive ‘Right to Strike’. The Employment Rights Act 2025 took the necessary step of repealing contemporary anti-union legislation such as the majority of the Trade Union Act (2016) and the MSL (Strikes) Act 2023, and our speakers discuss how far this will go to address the restrictions that have been placed on workers’ ability to strike over the past 40 years. 
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to the Right to Strike and its History
07:37 What is meant by exercising the ‘Right to Strike’
13:06 Contemporary attempts at restricting the power to take industrial action
14:40 The Employment Rights Act 2025 and the right to strike omission
18:30 The P&O Ferry dispute 
21:17 New changes to balloting, picketing law and strike mandates
25:40 The extension of protection from dismissal and detriment for taking industrial action
28:00 International Labour Standards and the Right to Strike
35:20 The Role of the International Labour Organization
Key quotations:
“The architecture and framework of very coercive [anti-union] legislation has been retained. This Government has modified and repealed aspects of the TU act 2016, and more importantly that terrible piece of legislation the Minimum Services Levels (Strikes) Act 2023, but that requirement of a ballot, those requirements of notification to the employer, though they have been tinkered with and are not as cruel and stringent as they were, they do basically remain the same”. (Professor Novitz)
 “Without some kind of solidarity action being possible […] you had no way to place adequate pressure on the employer to adhere to their collective agreements and to pay workers a reasonable sum for their labour or even to comply with the law” (Professor Novitz on the P&O Ferry dispute)

Welcome to the new 2nd season of the Institute of Employment Rights Podcast. In this episode, Prof Nicola Countouris (UCL & IER) and Lord John Hendy KC (UCL & IER), discuss the implications of the Government's new Employment Rights Act (2025).
Topics covered are:
- Worker Status
- Sectoral bargaining
- Industrial Action Legislation
- Effective remedies for workers
- Could P&O happen again after the Act?

"Having the right to strike doesn't mean you have to exercise it. The point is to have the right in order that workers ultimately have leverage in negotiations."
- Lord John Hendy KC
Without improved support for workers’ right to strike, will Labour’s new Employment Rights Bill leave British workers over-exposed and under-protected?
In conversation with Institute of Employment Rights Director, James Harrison, leading labour law experts Lord John Hendy KC and Prof. Keith Ewing address the failure of the Bill to meet the UK's obligations under international employment law.
They question if the new bodies created under the Bill have the teeth to fill the void left by a properly resourced Ministry of Labour - Britain is one of only a handful of developed nations that do not have a Labour Minister running their own department.
" Businesses, employers will be laughing at unions all the way through the process, because they know that at the end of the day, they can keep the union out."
- Professor Keith Ewing
Pointing to the shortcomings in the Bill regarding the right to strike, union access to workplaces and adequate enforcement agencies, these two industrial law heavyweights raise the prospect that - even under the new legislation - there could be a repeat of the P&O case, where almost 800 sailors were summarily dismissed.

Topics & Questions:
The Right To Strike: Is the UK violating international law by restricting workers' right to strike?
Still No Ministry Of Labour: Will the new Fair Work Agency be strong enough to truly protect workers?
Workplace Access: Can unions overcome the obstacles in Labour's new bill to effectively advocate for workers?

Chapters:
00:00 Welcome
01:26 The Right To Strike: A Fundamental Human Right
02:51 Britain's International Obligations On The Right To Strike
05:15 Electronic Ballots For Strike Action
08:03 Labour Party Commitments Dropped
15:28 Workplace Access Rights For Trade Unions
19:51 Remedies For Unions Vs Employers: A Legal Mis-Match
21:21 Union Access: How It Works Outside The UK
23:21 New Agencies, Limited Powers, No Labour Ministry
28:08 Inadequate Enforcement On Behalf Of Workers
32:28 Thank You For Joining Us

Takeaways:
Workers’ Rights: 
The UK's restrictive strike laws, particularly compared to international standards, undermine workers' bargaining power.
This imbalance makes it harder for unions to negotiate fair wages, secure better working conditions.
It also makes it harder to protect against unfair dismissal, ultimately leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation. 
Inadequate Enforcement: 
Despite the promise of a new Fair Work Agency, its limited powers and narrow focus raise serious doubts about its ability to protect workers. 
Without the ability to prosecute employers or address a wider range of labour violations, the agency may struggle to prevent future mass dismissals and other abuses.
This situation will leave workers reliant on lengthy and costly legal battles to defend their rights - without much confidence of adequate compensation should they win.
Unions Blocked: 
Although Labour's bill offers some positive changes, like simplifying ballot procedures, it falls short of addressing key obstacles to union organising and strike action. 
Unions will still need to navigate complex legal hurdles and employer resistance to gain workplace access and effectively exercise their right to strike.
This highlights the need for strategic planning and continued advocacy for stronger worker protections.

Credits:
The IER podcast is sponsored by Thompsons Solicitors.
For Thompsons resources and advice on Trade Union law visit thompsonstradeunion.law
This podcast is produced for IER by Creative Kin.
To find out more, visit creativekin.co.uk/ier
Recorded at Creative Kin's London studios.
Studio Producer and Editor: Jason Caffrey
Theme Music: Daniel Jorgensen