Industrial relations
From WikiTextbook
If the business is to succeed it is important that the employers and employees work well together. If this is to happen both the employers and employees need to know what is expected of them. Employers will expect employees to:
• Work to the terms and conditions set out in their contracts – if the employees do not work in this manner they can expect to have disciplinary action to be taken against them;
• help the business achieve its aims and objectives – the business should let its employees know its aims and objectives otherwise they will not know the direction the business is trying to head in;
• follow the health and safety regulations – there are strict health and safety laws set out by the government that employees must follow.
Employees expect to be:
• Paid according to their contract – this will mean being paid the right amount at the right time;
• provided with a safe place to work in – as set out in health and safety laws;
• given training so they can do their job effectively – this may be done at a training institution or college (off-the-job training) or within the business (on-the-job training);
• allowed to join trade unions – these were set up to protect and promote the interests of its members;
• allowed to look at computer records kept on them.
There are many different types of disagreements that can take place in a workplace. Disciplinary disputes may occur after an employer takes action against an employee for breaking his/her contract. Grievance procedures describe how an employee can make a complaint about a workmate or the business itself. Industrial disputes can take place over a range of issues such as pay, holidays, redundancies and working conditions. Often these disagreements can be resolved through negotiations and consultation between the employers and employees. If the dispute can not be resolved an industrial action may take place
Employees will often join together to form a trade union in order to protect their rights and act on their behalf in talks with employers.
Trade Unions
A trade union will act in the best interest of the workers and try to secure the best possible working conditions. Trade unions are financed by the workers who will normally pay a monthly subscription for the right to be a member.
There are a number of ways that unions can be classified; the most common way is to place them in one of the five following categories
• Craft Unions are the oldest type of union. Workers with common skills often joined together to form unions. Examples are the Musicians Union or the National Union of Journalists.
• Industrial Unions are formed by workers of a particular industry, such as coalminers, railway workers or gas workers Examples are National Union of Mineworkers and the Nation Union of Railwaymen
• General Unions are made up of workers with a wide range of skills from different industries. Examples are the Allied Trade Union or the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU).
• White collar unions – are made up of non-manual workers, such as civil servants, bank managers, nurses and teachers. Examples are Banking, Insurance and Finance Union (BIFU) and the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT).
• Staff associations – are set up for employees of a particular business, for example Marks and Spencer.
When a union represents a group of workers to their employers it is known as collective bargaining. A majority of disagreements can be resolved quickly and without incident, however, occasionally the two sides are unable to agree. In these cases the union may decide to take industrial action.
Employers’ Associations
Employers’ associations represent the employers’ views and interests in a particular industry, for example, the Engineering Employers’ Federation (EEF). They may provide advice on dealing with trade unions and trading abroad. They can also offer businesses training facilities and assistance with research and development.
Grievance Procedures
If an individual employee has a complaint against the business or another worker then the business should have a procedure set out to try and resolve the problem. A grievance procedure will set out how these complaints are to be dealt with. It will include information such as who the employee should contact and how the complaint should be solved. The employee may ask his/her trade union to represent them in the grievance procedure.
Disciplinary Disputes
Employees should be given clear details about what will happen to them if they break the rules of their contract. Employees who break the rules may be given a verbal warning, a written warning, a period of suspension or they may even be dismissed.
Disciplinary disputes may occur after an employer takes action against an employee for breaking his/her contract. Other workers may feel the business have been unfair in their treatment and this will lead to the disagreement. The employee’s trade union may also try and take action on their behalf.
Industrial Disputes
Industrial disputes can take between the employers and employees over many issues such as rates of pay, working conditions, the introduction of new technology, relocating the business and holidays.
The business may try and resolve any disputes through consultation and negotiation.
Consultation and Negotiation
Sometimes the employers and the employees will fail to agree on a particular issue. Both sides will try and negotiate an agreement. During these negotiations both sides may have to give-in slightly to the other side’s demand in order to reach an agreement. However this may not be possible because both sides have very different views.
Often the employers will negotiate with a group representing the employees rather than negotiating with each employee individually, this is known as collective bargaining. The trade union will frequently represent the employees during collective bargaining and try to negotiate in their best interests.
Businesses may try and prevent disagreements occurring by carrying out consultation. Consultation is the process of the business discussing matters of importance with the workers before any decisions are made. Hopefully by gauging the employees reactions before decisions are made disagreements can be avoided.
If after the process of consultation and negotiation the two sides fail to reach an agreement industrial action may take place.
Industrial Action
Industrial action can be taken by both the employees against the employers and the employers against the employees. Industrial action can be costly to both the employers and employees, therefore it is in the interests of both sides to reach an agreement through negotiation. Industrial action will be the last stage of any dispute.
It is possible to distinguish between unofficial and official action. Official action is approved by the union’s headquarters. Unofficial action occurs without the headquarters approval and tends be occurs when the workers want to act quickly. When workers take unofficial action they can have disciplinary action taken against them because they are breaking their contract. When workers take official action they are protected by law.
Unofficialaction
Unofficial action taken by the employees can come in a number of forms:
• High labour turnover – workers leave the company without giving the necessary notice;
• Poor time keeping – arriving late for work or taking long breaks;
• High levels of absenteeism – taking days off sick when not ill;
• Low levels of effort – by working inefficiently or deliberately wasting time;
• Unofficial strikes – will normally occur when workers stop working as an immediate reaction to an employer’s decision.
Despite the risk of getting sacked, employees may feel so strongly about a particular issue, they may take unofficial action in the hope that it will attract the attention of the media.
Official action
This is action that is supported by the union. This action can take a number of different forms:
• Work to rule – this means that workers do not carry out duties that are not in their employment contract. This can mean workers observing safety laws to the letter, when they are normally disregarded, which can lead to slower working;
• Go slow – employees deliberately attempt to slow down production, whilst still working within the terms of their contract;
• Overtime ban – employees only work the hours agreed in their contract;
• Sit-ins – workers refuse to leave a premises after production has finished;
• Work-ins – employees refuse to stop working in the hope of showing the owners that a factory is still a viable concern;
• Picketing – this involves members of a union on strike standing outside a firm’s entrance trying to persuade other workers not to cross it;
• Strike – this is the ultimate sanction a union can take. Employees refuse to work either for a set period of time or indefinitely. A majority of workers must vote in agreement of the strike in a secret ballot.
These forms of industrial action could also be carried out without the backing of the union, in others words it be unofficial, but they are usually forms of official action.
If after consultation and negotiation both sides fail to reach an agreement one of the following organisations might be used to resolve the conflict:
• Employment Tribunals
• Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)
• European Court of Justice.
ACAS is used to solve industrial disputes between the employees and employers. Employees will go to Employment Tribunals to try and find a solution to individual cases. The European Court of Justice is where both sides can go if they wish to make an appeal against a decision made by one of the other organisations.
Employers’ industrial action
The business may feel that it has to take industrial action to try and force the employees into making an agreement. There a number of different forms of employers’ industrial action:
• Changing working practices – the employers may decide to change the amount of money the employees are able to earn. They could also change the time the employees have to be at work.
• Removal of overtime – this will have the effect of reducing the amount of money the employees are able to earn.
• Lock-out – the business closes down for a set period or time or until the dispute is resolved. The business may be able to stop paying its workers during a lock-out.
• Closure – if the business feels the dispute can not be solved it could choose to shut down the factory/office/shop. This will be the last resort of the employers.
Employment (Industrial) Tribunals
Employment Tribunals are used to settle a wide range of disputes such as unfair dismissal, equal pay and discrimination. An Employment Tribunal is made up from three people; an independent legally qualified chairperson and two other people. One of the other two people is appointed from a panel of people nominated by trade unions and the other is from a panel nominated by employers' organisations.
During equal pay and sex discrimination cases the Tribunal will often include a woman member, however this is not a legal requirement. The person who brings the case to the Tribunal is called the Applicant and the employer defending the case is called the Respondent.
For cases of discrimination or equal pay the Applicant (employee) will normally present his/her case first as he/she has to prove the discrimination took place or the right to equal pay.
The Respondent (employer) will then have the opportunity to reply to the evidence put forward by the worker and her witnesses and try and prove that discrimination did not take place or that she does not have the right to equal pay. The two sides may represent themselves, or be represented by a trade union official, lawyer or any other person they wish.
The three members of the Employment Tribunal will then make their decision based upon the evidence presented to them. It is hoped that they will come to a unanimous decision, however if they can not a majority decision of 2 against 1 will do. The Industrial Tribunal is not able to enforce any decision they make - this has to be done after a separate application to the courts.
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)
ACAS state that their mission is “To improve the performance and effectiveness of organisations by providing an independent and impartial service to prevent and resolve disputes and to build harmonious relationships at work”. They use conciliation, arbitration and mediation in their attempts to avoid industrial disputes.
Conciliation is a voluntary process where employers, trade unions, and worker representatives are helped to reach an agreement that they are all happy with.
ACAS will normally only agree to set up arbitration or mediation when conciliation has not led to an end of the dispute.
Mediation involves both sides stating their case and ACAS making recommendations for settlement. After mediation neither side has to follow the recommendations, ACAS just hopes that both sides will agree to them and bring an end to the dispute.
Arbitration differs from mediation because both sides agree beforehand to accept the judgment that ACAS makes. Arbitration is similar to mediation as both sides state their case to ACAS before a decision is made.
European Court of Justice.
The European Court of Justice was set up in 1952 and it enforces laws that have been passed by the European Union. It is based in Luxembourg and it can enforce decisions in any of the European Union countries. It frequently hears cases relating to sex discrimination, but it can pass judgment on any area of law.
