Last week, the Labour UK Government published their long-awaited Employment Rights Bill. It’s the legislative manifestation, or at least part of it, of the New Deal for Working People they’ve heralded for years. The New Deal, forged and crafted by our movement, is the shot in the arm workers needed to not only restore our working rights but to improve them.

Fair play to them. I know there will be howls from certain sections of the commentariat that, shock horror, a trade unionist is supportive of measures enacted by the Labour Party. I would implore even the most cynical reader of my words to take a cursory glance of my columns and see how critical I’ve been of the Prime Minister and the wider Labour Party to get a shift on and enact this policy.

And they have. All within the 100-day deadline they promised.

But meeting their target isn’t an excuse to down tools and celebrate – far from it.

Unquestionably this is the biggest reform to working rights seen in a generation. Giving workers employment rights from day one with protections against unfair dismissal in addition to improved rights on maternity, paternity and sick pay will rebalance the power dynamic within the workplace in favour of working people.

In addition, a ban on exploitative zero hour and short-term contracts will, with much luck, dethrone Scotland as the zero hours contract nation of the UK – a title that we should gladly abdicate.

The casting into the pyre of all the anti-union legislation enacted by the Tory Government these past 14 years is also to be welcomed. First into the fire will be the Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Bill. This was an unworkable, unenforceable and unashamed attack on the right to strike that was nothing more than ideological retaliation on our movement for seeking to improve workers’ rights.

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But this isn’t the full package. Not yet anyway. I had previously warned that listening to Peter Mandelson and his acolytes – the CBI, business interests and shadowy corporate ghouls that hardly hold the interests of working people close to their hearts – was the wrong approach. Their overtures to the Labour Party have been mildly successful.

We’ve seen a watering down of the Bill in many respects. Yes, it’s welcome that “exploitative” zero hours contracts are banned but this falls short of the initial promises to ban them outright.

The pledge to ban fire and re-hire was also meant to be outright but now companies have their get-out clause; they can rehire workers on worse conditions should they be at a material risk of insolvency. It’s, of course, prudent that workers could still have a job should the risk of insolvency occur but you can’t tell me that this clause won’t be exploited by ruthless, hostile employers, with clever accountants to boot, to cut costs and working conditions for their staff.

The Bill also seeks to give unions greater access to workplaces to recruit and organise workers. But this is a far cry away from the initial promises made to our movement on collective bargaining rights; the ability for union representatives to negotiate for better pay, terms and conditions on behalf of their members..

As Unite the Union has pointed out, even a modest increase in collective bargaining levels to those seen in 1996 would benefit the economy and lead to a 2.8% bump in GDP.

In that respect, business leaders and employers, as well as government officials, must wake up and smell the coffee: stronger working rights are actually good for the economy. They’re also good for employers too.

Yes, employers are there to be negotiated with and, if required, taken to task with industrial action. But the last thing workers or even employers for that matter will want is undue strife. Workers want decent terms and conditions. Strike action, despite what many people think and have seen over the cost-of-living crisis, has always remained a last resort. A negotiated settlement that benefits workers is always the preferred option.

Expunge from your minds therefore the incorrect adage that regulation on working rights constrains the economy. It doesn’t. Until this point, we’ve had some of the most stringent, anti-trade union law seen anywhere throughout Europe. We’ve also, surprise surprise, seen wages and productivity flatlining when compared to our nearest continental neighbours.

If we wish to have a stronger economy with fair wages and conditions for workers at its heart, strengthening, not weakening, the right to strike is the way forward.

If we want to boost productivity and employment and drive forward the wellbeing economy, major reform to labour laws on working time, flexible working and collective bargaining is the solution.

Ultimately, the Employment Rights Bill isn’t the terminus. It’s the first stop. This can be the foundations on which we can build. It’s not perfect, no legislation ever is and there are still too many vested interests from those who don’t have the wellbeing of workers at their core, but it’s at least a start.

From now on, as the Bill makes its way through Parliament, our voices matter more than ever. The Employment Rights Bill is the minimum level of rights we should expect, not the maximum. It’s about embedding and enhancing these working rights from now on. That includes ending the excuses from the Labour Government and finally having a conversation about further powers for the Scottish Parliament. Further powers over taxation, migration and, importantly, employment law should now be making their way from Westminster to Holyrood. The Prime Minister was rightly keen during the election to reset relations with the devolved nations. Powers, not electioneering patter, is the best way to achieve this.

Roz Foyer is General Secretary of the STUC