On Monday the House of Lords voted to remove the 'Employee Shareholder' clause of the Government's Growth and Infrastructure bill, which would see employees give up workplace rights in return for shares in the company they work for.
As a result of this vote the House of Commons was forced to reconsider plans and again MPs voted to ignore Lords opposition (by 265 votes to 221) resulting in the policy being revived.
The bill is now the subject of a bout of 'parliamentary ping-pong', in which legislation is bounced between each House of Parliament until both MPs and peers agree on its wording.
Ministers say the scheme, which allows owners to award shares worth between £2,000 and £50,000 to their staff, would cut red tape and help businesses. In return, the employee would give up certain rights, including unfair dismissal, redundancy, training rights and also the right to ask for flexible working.
Defending the policy, business minister Michael Fallon told MPs: "We have sought throughout the passage of this bill that nobody should be harassed or bullied into accepting this form of status.
"The essence of this status is that it is choice: it is a choice for the company to offer this particular status, it is a choice for the individual whether or not to accept it."
Ifs ProShare, the voice of the employee share ownership industry in the UK, which has spent several months lobbying parliamentarians from all parties to drop the plans thinks the scheme is "unwanted, unnecessary and unworkable".
"We felt after Lords rejected the policy, that it provided the Government with the perfect opportunity to properly reflect on what was fast becoming a major embarrassment to the Coalition," Phil Hall, special adviser to ifs ProShare said.
"However, despite the chorus of disapproval from the House of Lords, the majority of British businesses and all of the representative bodies for the employee share ownership industry, they have instead forced the policy through."
He added: "These plans must be dropped at the earliest available opportunity."
Peers are expected to weigh up MPs' arguments again today.
