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Protecting workers’ rights is the key post-Brexit task

<span>Photograph: Maureen McLean/Rex/Shutterstock</span>
Photograph: Maureen McLean/Rex/Shutterstock

Ed Miliband rightly highlights the need to be vigilant against any race to the bottom by those who want to strip away the gains made in recent decades (It’s now clear this government wants UK workers to have as little power as possible, 15 January).

It’s ironic that those who feel this is the way to the country’s future prosperity instinctively rail against the state providing social welfare. Have they learned nothing from the furore over feeding the children of the working poor? Do they dream of a Victorian industrial utopia, where death and injury were commonplace and those that fell on hard times had to go into workhouses? Successful, sustainable enterprises are founded on decent remuneration and civilised working conditions.
Lee Mortimer
Garstang, Lancashire

• Ed Miliband puts his finger on yet another deeply concealed objective of Tory post-Brexit intent. Becoming free from the reins of the EU nanny state was never far from the sights of rightwing Tory ideologues, who have shaped every aspect of anti-European thinking. He is right to flag the importance of workers’ rights. The wretched gig economy has been a contributing factor in the scale of Covid-19 infections. There is increasing evidence that some of the most economically vulnerable have also found themselves disproportionately exposed to the virus.

A further erosion of workers’ rights will never be reversed without deep cultural changes in the way capitalism operates. Business leaders have to join the debate in creating a progressive, inclusive form of corporate governance – with independent supervision the centrepiece of reform. This is the most important challenge we face.

Leaving the EU and the social market economy of Europe is a step backwards. Boris Johnson’s “levelling up” mantra echoes his absurd assurances that we won’t be sending children back up chimneys on his watch. Don’t be surprised about anything the Tories do in their bid to benefit the few and not the many.
Richard Tudway
Principal, Centre for International Economics

• Ed Miliband is right to argue that the protection of workers’ rights is the key post-Brexit task. It’s not surprising that the Tories want to attack them and not just because they have a long history of doing so. While the Brexit agreement includes employment rights as a key area that, if diluted by the UK, would trigger a review, the Tories know that measures such as the working time directive are imperfectly applied across Europe and they would probably get away with diluting them. The solution lies now, as it did before 31 December, with joining and being active in a trade union.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London

• Joe Biden said recently that the middle class built America and trade unions built the middle class. Restoring that capacity will be an important element in his post-Covid recovery programme. It’s a bit depressing then to read Ed Miliband’s article, presumably a window into the approach of the next Labour government, which offers no such insight into what needs to be done.

Instead, he banks on progressive businesses and unions working together for the good of the companies and country. He must know that companies negotiate with unions when the unions and the legal framework are strong enough to provide some semblance of equality of negotiating strength. Will Labour head into the next election still attempting to finesse this reality?
Jim O’Donnell
Carrowneden, County Sligo, Ireland