Fewer Trade Union Deals

According to the annual TUC “Focus on Recognition” survey, unions signed 61 deals in the year to October 2005, covering 12,000 employees. Nearly 180 deals were signed the year before, covering over 20,000 employees.

This is despite the fact that unions are running almost three times as many campaigns for recognition. The TUC says this is because lots of unions are now tackling non-traditional sectors, where membership has historically been low.

Over 90 per cent of the deals covered collective bargaining on pay, hours and holidays. Two thirds allowed for negotiation and consultation over employee training and learning, and the number of agreements providing for training and learning reps almost doubled. 
There was also an increase in deals that covered collective representation on grievance and disciplinary issues - up to 84 per cent from 73 per cent the previous year.

Thirty-five unions took part in the survey representing 5.2 million members – 81 per cent of the TUC's total affiliated membership. To download the survey, go to: www.tuc.org.uk

Black Women Workers

Black and Asian women are more likely to be out of work, have more problems finding a suitable job, and often have to settle for work well below their skill levels, according to a recent report by the TUC.

Black women and employment says that at 5.4 per cent, the unemployment rate among black women is almost twice that of white women. It is only slightly lower among Asian women at 4.8 per cent.

Black and Asian women are also more likely to be working in temporary, less secure forms of employment than white women. Official statistics show that just over nine per cent of black women and eight per cent of Asian women, compared to just under six per cent of white women are on fixed term contracts or working as temps with an employment agency.

The report makes a number of recommendations:

  • that union equality reps should be given a statutory right to time off 
  • that black and Asian women should have greater access to training opportunities at work and help with finding affordable, good quality childcare 
  • that the Government should make more use of positive public procurement policies.

Go to: www.tuc.org.uk/extras/bwae.pdf to download a copy of the report.

ACAS publishes Guidance on age

Following publication of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, Acas has published two guides called Age and the Workplace to help employers and individuals get to grips with what they entail.

The first summarises the regulations and highlights good practice for recruiting and retaining staff, as well as dealing with staff of retirement age. It features the importance of having a comprehensive equality policy and action plan and answers a number of frequently asked questions.

It has also produced an advice leaflet for employees, workers and individuals looking at what the regulations will mean for them and providing a brief overview. It also explains what to do if individuals think they have suffered discrimination or harassment.

Go to: www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1044%20 to download copies of the guidance.

Phone Solidarity

The TUC is asking unions and their members to give their used mobile phones to the Iraqi trade union movement as an act of “second-hand solidarity”.

Useful for any union organiser, they are particularly crucial in Iraq where it is dangerous to travel and landlines are not sufficiently reliable or widespread. Mobile phones are expensive to buy in Iraq (and UK phone systems do not work there yet), so buying new ones eats up scarce union resources.

The Iraqi trade union movement has worked out how to convert old European mobile phones for use there, and the TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee has opened an appeal for used mobile phones.

Old mobile phones (along with their chargers) should be sent to the TUC Aid for Iraq appeal at Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS.

Paying for Leave

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the working time directive does not allow EU states to pay workers instead of letting them take their annual leave, even if the holiday was just being carried over from the previous year.

In Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging -v- Staat der Nederlanden, the Dutch equivalent of the TUC challenged the Netherlands civil code which said that workers who had not taken all their holiday could “cash it in” in the subsequent holiday year, as long as they were allowed to take their full entitlement in that year.

It argued that this was a violation of the directive, which states that workers cannot accept payment in lieu of taking annual leave, except when the employment relationship has ended.

And the ECJ agreed. It said that although it was not contrary to the directive to allow workers to carry over their leave, offering financial compensation for leave that had not been taken was at odds with the directive's health and safety objectives. The relevant provision of Dutch law was therefore contrary to the directive.

DDA Guidance

Under section three of the Disability Discrimination Act, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions can issue guidance concerning the definition of disability in the Act, in particular, guidance about matters that have to be taken into account in deciding whether someone is disabled or not.

The Disability Rights Commission has now, on behalf of the Minister, revised its previous guidance to reflect the various changes that came into force in December 2005.

The guidance does not carry any legal weight as such, but tribunals have to take it into account when considering whether someone is disabled or not. Go to: www.drc-gb.org/documents/guidance.pdf to download a copy.

Vanishing Dismissals

Following their dismissal by GSL just before a TUPE transfer to G4S, the employment appeal tribunal has said in G4S Justice Services -v- Ansley & Simpson that the employees had transferred over once they were reinstated.

The two claimants were dismissed in April 2005 and lodged internal appeals before the end of April. G4S then took over the contract on 1 May. The men’s contracts stated that if an appeal against dismissal was successful, their continuity of employment would be deemed to be unbroken.

The men’s appeals were successful, but G4S did not have jobs for them under the new set-up. They then refused to reinstate the men on the basis that they were not employed by GSL immediately before the transfer and consequently, their employment had not transferred to G4S under TUPE.

The EAT has now said that, when employees are dismissed before a TUPE transfer, but reinstated following the transfer, the dismissal “vanishes” and the employees are deemed to have transferred over.

Workplace Disputes

As part of its series of discussion papers, Acas has just published a paper looking at the impact that the dispute resolution regulations (introduced in 2004) are having on employment tribunal claims. It also addresses wider issues such as the increasing complexity of the process.

New rules, new challenges suggests that the best way of reducing tribunal cases is by focusing on improving employment relations solutions in the workplace. To do that, the paper argues that more resources should be targeted on dispute prevention in the workplace, including mediation services. To download a copy of the discussion paper, go to:www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/j/s/discusapril06_1.pdf

Ageing Claims

Just as the age regulations are about to kick in, the House of Lords has decided in the long-running saga of Rutherford -v- DTI that Mr Rutherford could not claim unfair dismissal because he was over 65.

He argued that the upper qualifying limit affected more men than women and so was indirectly discriminatory. This limit disappears under the new regulations, due to come into force in October 2006.

We will look at this case in more detail in the next issue of LELR.