Thread by @TomKibasi

THREAD

We keep hearing about the risk to workers' rights and deregulation from a no-deal Brexit and a Trump trade deal.

But what does this really mean?

Here's a short thread that compares the United States and the UK.

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First, in most of the US, employment is "at-will".

This means your boss can fire you at any time, with no notice, and for no reason.

Employers in the UK must provide workers with a contract and can't fire people for no reason.

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Second, in the US there are no rights to annual leave.

The average American worker gets just 10 days holiday a year.

In the UK, workers have the right to 20 days annual leave plus 8 days of public holidays.

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Third, workers in the US have no right to paid sick leave.

If you are sick, you either go unpaid or take it out of your miserly annual leave.

In the UK, there is statutory sick leave where you must be paid.

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Fourth, women in the US have no right to paid maternity leave.

They must either go unpaid or use what little holiday they have.

This is one of the reasons that female labour force participation rates actually fell from 2000 to 2015.

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So when right wing politicians hide behind the language of deregulation, make sure you know what it really means for ordinary people: less security, less holiday, and no paid sick leave or maternity leave.

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