JERSEY’S proposed new employment protection laws do not comply with international obligations on workers’ rights, according to a letter allegedly sent by the Privy Council, the highest lawmaking body in Britain, to a major trade union.

But it was news to the Island’s Employment Minister, Paul Routier, when he met UK-based Transport and General Workers Union official Andy Frampton yesterday.

The Minister said that he had checked with the Chief Minister’s department, which has responsibility for monitoring Privy Council matters, and had received confirmation that there had been no request from the Privy Council or any UK department for the Island to redraft the law.

But Mr Frampton said that the letter had been written by an officer of the Privy Council.

According to Mr Frampton, the letter says that the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry had determined that parts of the proposed Jersey laws relating to workers’ rights did not comply with international obligations which have been laid down by the International Labour Organisation.