A TRADE union has called Labour’s latest draft of their New Deal for Workers totally “unrecognisable” as the party looks to have ditched key pledges.

Unite the Union has responded after being sent the latest draft of the New Deal documents by Labour and has said the party is “rowing back on its pledges”.

Keir Starmer, and the Scottish Labour group, have repeatedly pledged a New Deal for Working People should they come into power at Westminster after the next General Election.

Labour’s promises included a ban on zero-hours contracts and introducing parental leave and sick pay from day one.

READ MORE: Scottish Labour fury as Keir Starmer waters down workers' rights plan

Angela Rayner pledged to personally implement the plans within 100 days of taking office while at the UK party’s conference last year.

However, it was previously reported by the FT that senior Labour officials said they would not implement the proposals within 100 days – but would instead only table draft legislation within that period.

It was also reported they would not completely ban zero-hours contracts and parental leave will not be brought in “from day one”, but instead only consulted on in the first year of a Labour government.

The National: Sharon Graham Image: PAUnite the Union leader Sharon Graham

Responding to new documents sent to the trade unions by the Labour Party on Monday, the leader of Unite Sharon Graham, has said the New Deal for Workers is “unrecognisable” compared to the original proposals.

She said: “It looks like all the warnings Unite made earlier about the dangers of Labour rowing back on its pledges for the New Deal for Workers have been proved right.

“This new Labour document on the New Deal, issued to the unions on Monday, is a row back on a row back.

“It is totally unrecognisable from the original proposals produced with the unions. Unrecognisable. Workers will see through this and mark this retreat after retreat as a betrayal.

“This new document is turning what was a real new deal for workers into a charter for bad bosses.

“Labour don’t want a law against fire and rehire, and they are effectively ripping up the promise of legislation on a new deal for workers in its first 100 days.

“Instead, we have codes of conduct and pledges of consultation with big business. Likewise, the proposal to legislate against zero-hour contracts is watered down to almost nothing.

“In truth this new document is not worthy of discussion.

“All unions must now demand that Labour changes course and puts the original New Deal for Workers back on the table.”

READ MORE: Labour set to roll back on workers' rights pledges in latest U-turn

Labour has previously come under fire from trade union leaders over their reported plans to weaken their pledges on workers’ rights.

Roz Foyer, the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) who represents more than half a million members, told The Sunday National last week that Labour shouldn’t water down any of its plans.

She also warned Starmer and his party that they should deliver the deal in full and “without equivocation”.

A Labour spokesperson told the Sunday National at the time: “The New Deal will be a core part of Labour’s offer to the country and we will be campaigning on this ahead of the General Election.

“Labour’s New Deal for Working People was agreed at the party’s National Policy Forum last summer building upon our Green Paper.

“Our commitments to bring forward legislation to Parliament within 100 days to deliver the New Deal and to consult widely on implementation have not changed.”

However, recent changes to the planned New Deal have not been well received.

Chris Stephens, an SNP MP, warned that as Starmer gets closer to power he continues to abandon key pledges.

He said: “[Graham's] response to Keir Starmer's watered-down New Deal for Workers policy is a damning analysis of the party's flagship policy.

“Despite shouting from the heavens about how his party will deliver real change to workers' rights, Keir Starmer has once again abandoned a key pledge the closer he gets to power.

“It's clear that he has no idea what he wants to do with the power he so desperately seeks.

“With a General Election looming, it's clear that whether we have a Labour or a Tory government, Westminster does not offer the change Scotland needs.

“At the General Election, it is only the SNP who will stand up for Scotland's workers' - and continue our journey towards independence.”

SNP Leader at Westminster Stephen Flynn also took to Twitter/X to criticise Starmer's apparent U-turn on key policies within the deal.

He wrote: “Shock. Another screeching Starmer u-turn.

“This time on employment rights. And on the same day he welcomes one of the most right-wing Tory MPs into the heart of the Labour Party.

“It's almost like these powers should rest in Holyrood rather than London...”