The think tank said the housebuilding, childcare and rail industries are crucial to Labour’s missions but are struggling to recruit workers. Researchers said fair pay agreements can solve recruitment and retention problems among staff in these sectors.
A new report from the IPPR entitled Mission-driven industrial relations: The case for fair pay agreements recommends that the Government establish such collective agreements for housebuilding, childcare, and rail workers.
It said one of the biggest challenges facing the Government in delivering its missions are recruitment and retention issues in key sectors. For example, estimates suggest that the UK will need around 225,000 new building workers to meet demand.
The Government has already committed to introducing sectoral collective bargaining for social care employees and teaching support staff. This process involves unions and employers negotiating training standards, pay and working conditions that apply across an entire sector.
Agreements of this kind are already in place voluntarily across some other crucial industries, including North Sea oil and gas production and large-scale engineering construction, where they have proved valuable for both companies and workers.
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This approach was more common in the earlier part of the 20th century to, as Winston Churchill put it, “stop good employers being undercut by bad”. However, the Thatcher Government abolished many of the institutions that negotiated and implemented these agreements.
The report calls for a modern approach to industrial relations in sectors that it said are crucial to the Government’s missions and where it has significant purchasing power.
Joseph Evans, researcher at IPPR, said: “Labour has promised to deliver its national missions, but workforce shortages in the industries [that] will achieve those missions are creating significant hurdles.
“Construction, childcare, and rail will all deliver on the Government’s promises to grow the economy and break down barriers to opportunity. Fair pay agreements will help to make sure these sectors are functioning as effectively as possible: they’re key to getting Britain back to work and driving growth.”
Helen Donohoe, chief executive of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, said: “In our latest survey of childminders, a quarter of respondents listed poor pay as the reason they’ll be leaving the profession in the next 12 months. It’s one reason why childminder numbers are plummeting – at the current rate, there’ll be a mere 1,000 left in 2035.
“This is a clear indication that we need a clearer, more strategic approach to ensuring early education and childcare professionals receive the pay and conditions they deserve, something that could be delivered through the establishment of a national negotiating body.”
