Currys boss Alex Baldock has warned that Labour risks “making people inadvertently poorer” under its workers’ rights plan.
The chief executive told The Telegraph that party leader Sir Keir Starmer needed to be “careful” in overhauling employment rights if Labour wins the general election.
Labour has vowed to secure a “new deal for working people” if it is successful, which it says would “strengthen workers’ rights and make Britain work for working people”.
As part of the plan, the party is looking to end zero-hour contracts, scrap qualifying periods for full employment rights, and give staff the right to claim unfair dismissal after day one of a new job.
Baldock, who has donated to the Conservative Party in the past, said Labour was “certainly much more business-friendly than has been the case at times in the recent past”.
However, he noted concerns about the party’s suggested employment reforms.
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“Everyone should be careful that – admirably intended though it may be to seek to protect people – that you don’t inadvertently make them poorer,” Baldock said.
“The more restrictions that you put in place, the less flexibility you allow in businesses’ relationships with their colleagues, the less likely businesses are to hire and the less likely they are to invest.”
The chief executive said he would be “very loath” to see probationary periods axed as it was a “really important” practice for businesses.
“The colleague and the business get a chance to take a look at each other before both sides commit.”
Baldock warned it “wouldn’t be a step in the right direction” to get rid of probationary periods.
“It’s not about zero-hour contracts, we don’t use those. But the relative flexibility of the UK labour market is a point of advantage and we should let go of that with great reluctance.”
Labour insists that its proposed reforms will not mean the end of probation periods and businesses will still be able to dismiss workers who perform poorly, but said they aim to make workplace rights “fit for a modern economy”.
A Labour spokesman told The Telegraph: “As a pro-worker and pro-business party, Labour will work in partnership to ensure the implementation of our reforms work for the economy and bring security.”
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