The IER Podcast

The Institute of Employment Rights

The IER is delighted to launch our new podcast. In this 6-part series, our labour law experts will be dissecting the new employment legislation brought forward by Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government. As many of our readers will know, the IER have been informing the debate on improving and strengthening labour laws for workers over the last 30 years. This body of work (undertaken on a voluntary basis by our labour law academics and lawyers) provided the blueprint for Labour's green paper on employment rights, New Deal for Workers document, their National Policy Forum document, and now their 'Making Work Pay' proposals, which are being brought to life by the Government's proposed Employment Rights Bill. Join us, as our experts consider how the proposals in the Bill measure up, and as we highlight the pitfalls and the possibilities the Bill may pose for the UK's 33 million workers. The IER Podcast is kindly supported by Thompsons Solicitors.

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  1. The Working Life Podcast - by the Institute of Employment Rights

    Episode 1

    The Working Life Podcast - by the Institute of Employment Rights

    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?

    28 min
  2. The Right to Strike

    Episode 2

    The Right to Strike

    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)

    42 min
  3. Fire and Rehire

    Episode 3

    Fire and Rehire

    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

    24 min
  4. The Fair Work Agency

    Episode 4

    The Fair Work Agency

    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.

    30 min
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About

The IER is delighted to launch our new podcast. In this 6-part series, our labour law experts will be dissecting the new employment legislation brought forward by Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government. As many of our readers will know, the IER have been informing the debate on improving and strengthening labour laws for workers over the last 30 years. This body of work (undertaken on a voluntary basis by our labour law academics and lawyers) provided the blueprint for Labour's green paper on employment rights, New Deal for Workers document, their National Policy Forum document, and now their 'Making Work Pay' proposals, which are being brought to life by the Government's proposed Employment Rights Bill. Join us, as our experts consider how the proposals in the Bill measure up, and as we highlight the pitfalls and the possibilities the Bill may pose for the UK's 33 million workers. The IER Podcast is kindly supported by Thompsons Solicitors.

Information

  • Creator
    The Institute of Employment Rights
  • Episodes
    12
  • Seasons
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Institute of Employment Rights 2024. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The IER Podcast