Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:16 pm on 9 February 2021.
I welcome Mick Antoniw's comments and support. I know this is an area that Mick has a strong track record in advocating and working on and campaigning for, and I know it's something that he is keenly interested in. And I think the point you made in your opening, Mick, really brought it home in terms of what you said—our approach in Wales is that the door's open to talk, and to sit round the table and to take things forward, where perhaps over the border the door's often firmly shut in people's faces. But really the emphasis is on our partnership working and a positive approach in Wales, and taking that approach not to be different, but because it's the right thing to do, and it doesn't just make a difference to people in work, but it makes a difference to our communities as well and our country as a whole.
With regard to the draft social partnership Bill, clearly, one of the recommendations of the Fair Work Commission was about, actually, the importance of being able to empower that collective voice within the workplace, and the role that plays in achieving fair work in Wales. The hope is that this draft social partnership Bill will enable us to actually bring all the stakeholders around the table to set clear agendas for what we want to see in Wales in terms of how that would be achieved right across the country. I know that many of our trade union colleagues will be very involved with the consultation process, and I'm really keen to have a very innovative and very open consultation process to shape this Bill in social partnership, to ensure that the collective voice of the trade union movement and the members is heard, and, at the same time, also making sure that we do that in partnership with our stakeholders from both the public and private sectors in Wales.