Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn launches national Workplace 2020 initiative in Stroud

The Labour leader spoke to a crowd of employees and supporters at Britwind, a leading windmill manufacturing company based in Woodchester which is owed by Ecotricity.

He was joined by shadow business secretary Angela Eagle and the green energy company’s founder Dale Vince, who arrived at the launch in a convoy of electric cars.

Flanked by giant windmill blades on either side, Mr Corbyn set out a new programme for boosting the rights of employees, encouraging trade union membership and tackling in-work poverty.

He said the business initiative would be at the forefront of Labour’s vision for a modern workforce.

"Workplace 2020 will be at the heart of how Labour is going to develop our alternative for the workforce of the 21st century,” he said.

“We want it to be the biggest discussion of what the world of work should look like in 2020 and thereafter.

"In Britain we have zero hours contracts, insecurity and wage undercutting. It’s not sustainable, it’s not healthy, it leads to desperate levels on stress and it plays into the mental health crisis. What people need is security in the workforce and security of their living.

"Instead of a race to the bottom in jobs, pay and workplace rights, we will be shaping a different approach: based on a full-employment, a high-skilled workforce, with decent pay, rights for self-employed and the employed, and a voice at work through collective bargaining.

"That's the basis for a new business settlement in the economy of the future. One that benefits both workers and employers - and breaks with the low-pay, low-investment, low-productivity record of this country.

“Workplace 2020 is part of our policy making process which will give us an understanding of what popular feelings are.

“But above all its unlocking the potential in everybody to think of creative ideas of how we can do things differently and better - how those at work want rights, want a voice, want democracy but above all, want to be able to contribute so that their skills are fully utilised.”

He said the party was also hoping to inspire “a change in the mood and conversation well ahead of the 2020 election on what rights of work could look like and the role that Trade Unions play in society.”

Paying tribute to Dale Vince, the leader of the opposition said Ecotricity was a shining example of workplace equality and fairness.

“It’s a real pleasure to be here at this company which is doing so well in sustainable energy and sustainable production,” he said.

“It is helping use to use technology to preserve and protect our environment but at the same time provide good quality employment and high-skilled work.”

In front of around 30 Labour supporters, he also thanked former Stroud MP David Drew for his years of service to the party.

He said: “David was an absolutely brilliant MP and a great friend of mine in Parliament.

“His passion for this region, this district and this community was without parallel before or since.”

Mr Corbyn also offered his condolences to Forest Green Rovers, a team which he has said he’d supported ever since his friendship with Mr Drew.

He said the non-league side, which is sponsored by Ecotricity, was unlucky to lose in last weekend’s playoff game at Wembley.

“I was sorry to see what happened on Sunday. It was a travesty of justice,” he joked.

“It’s a fantastic team. I know they play their heart out. But there is always next season and we will be supporting you again then.”

Before leaving the stage he presented the Ecotricity CEO with a bottle of “Parliament’s finest whisky”.

Mr Vince thanked the Labour leader for his visit, saying: “It was brilliant to have Jeremy and his team here today to launch this initiative.

“I think getting fairness into the workplace is really important. You can’t have sustainability without fairness,” he told the SNJ.

“Ecotricity and the Labour party are very much on the same page. I love what they stand for.”

Speaking to the SNJ after the launch at Q Park in Bath Road, Mr Corbyn also praised the Labour party in Stroud for holding on to its co-operative control of the district council.

“I was so pleased for Labour in Stroud. I was scanning for the results to come in on my IPad all day. I have just congratulated them on the result and the alliance they are setting up,” he said.

“I look forward to working with them but on the housing strategy they are developing, but also on rural policy strategies.”

Steve Lydon, newly elected head of the Labour group leading Stroud District Council, was joined by a number of his party peers to welcome Mr Corbyn, including deputy leader Doina Cornell and newly elected councillor Skeena Rathor.

Labour held onto its control of Ebley Mill at the tightly contested district council elections two weeks ago.

Although it is not the biggest party, it again leads the council in a cooperative alliance with the Greens and Liberal Democrats.

Britwind is a small firm builds 100 per cent British windmills for landowners and business across the country.

The company is part of Ecotricity, who have been building big wind parks for nearly 20 years.

Ecotricity was one of the biggest donors to the Stroud Labour Party in last year’s general election campaign.