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BARGAIN BRIEF 3
Bargain Brief 3 - Topical news for activists and staff
Click here for previous Bargain Briefs

May 2001
bargaining brief
is a new publication from the Policy & Information Team. It aims to provide a concise and topical news service for activists and staff engaged in representing and bargaining on behalf of UNISON members in Scotland. Recognising that not all activists have the access or time to read detailed information we hope this summary format will be helpful. Further information on any of the news items below is available from the P&I Team and we welcome feedback on any aspect of this service.

Legal
Overtime
Holiday Entitlement
Collective Consultation

Equal Opportunities
Working Parents
Assistance for Working Parents
Disability Rights
Race Relations

Industrial Relations
Data Protection
Fixed Term Contracts
Work-Life Balance - Sick Leave

Freedom of Information

Scots Workers set challenge

Contacts list:

 

Legal

Overtime

The ECJ in Wolfgang Lange v Georg Schunemann have ruled that employers must inform employees in writing of any obligation to work overtime. Lange was unfairly dismissed for refusing to work overtime because his contract was silent on this point.

Holiday Entitlement

The Working Time Regulations limits the entitlement to four weeks holiday to staff with 13 weeks continuous service. This often excludes staff who do not work continuously. A challenge to this regulation has been referred to the ECJ on the basis that the directive does not include this precondition. The ECJ Advocate General's opinion (which is usually followed by the ECJ) indicates that this precondition is not allowed by the Directive. If the ECJ follows this opinion (probably this summer) the regulations will have to be changed.

Collective Consultation

A useful reminder in GMB v Man Truck & Bus UK that the redundancy consultation requirements apply to any dismissal not related to the individual concerned. In this case it covered dismissals and re-engagement on new contracts following harmonisation.

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Equal Opportunities

Working Parents

Useful sources of information relating to legislation and current practice regarding issues surrounding working parents:

Acas
www.acas.org.uk

Dept of Education & Employment
www.dfee.gov.uk

Employers for Work-Life Balance
www.employersforwork-lifebalance.org.uk

Equal Opportunities Commission
www.eoc.org.uk

Site advocating a work-life balance
www.flametree.co.uk/work/your-rights

National Family and Parenting Institute
www.nfpi.org.uk

Trades Union Congress
www.tuc.org.uk

Government online information service
www.ukonline.co.uk

Assistance for Working Parents

The Government has announced new measures to assist working parents with disabled children. Their parental leave entitlement will be increased from 13 to 18 weeks, giving them greater flexibility to care for their children. The moves are supported by business, disability and parent groups.

Disability Rights

Changes currently being made to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) will give extended rights to cancer sufferers and employees of small businesses who were previously exempt from its provisions. People with cancer will now be protected against discrimination from the time of diagnosis. Those who have recovered from it or are in remission will also be covered.

Race Relations

Following from the MacPherson Report, the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 came into force on 2 April 2001.

The Act aims to force public authorities to eliminate institutional racism and promote equality of opportunity and good relations. Authorities and, interestingly, any sub-contractors will have to clearly define racial equality policies and assess their impact on recruitment retention and promotion of ethnic minority staff. Annual results will have to be published.

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Industrial Relations

Data Protection

The Data Protection Act is now one year old. Organisations failing to comply with it risk criminal prosecution. In a survey carried out by Industrial Relations only half of the organisations questioned admitted having a written data protection policy.

The act regulates when and how personal data about individuals may be obtained, held, used and disclosed and includes the need to obtain employees' consent to hold, for example, their sickness absence records, and sensitive personal data such as mental or physical health problems. Other issues that should be covered in any data protection agreement include ensuring that documents like expired disciplinary warnings are erased from employees' records. Only a third of employers surveyed had such policies in place.

The Data Protection Registrar will shortly be issuing a series of Code of Practice which will set out what employers need to do to comply with the Act.

Fixed Term Contracts

The EU Fixed Term Contracts Directive should come into force in the UK by June 2001. The DTI has issued a publication on the directive with a closing date for responses of 31 May 2001. The Directive aims to ensure that fixed-term workers are treated no less favourably than permanent employees, and to prevent abuse arising from use of several fixed term contracts. The Directive will require employees to consult with workers' representatives on their use.

Work-Life Balance - Sick Leave

Employers need to adopt work-life balance practices if they want to cut staff turnover and absenteeism and increase productivity.

Department for Education research, Work Life Balance Survey 2000 claims that costs to business of employees suffering from stress and taking extended sick leave are increasing, whereas those firms who had implemented work-life policies found an increase in productivity, lowered staff turnover and absenteeism and an improvement in industrial relations overall.

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Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Bill, published recently is notably light on how authorities are going to provide the Information.

The Bill estimates an annual cost of providing the information at between £2.5 and £4.8m, but nowhere indicates where this money is to come from to compensate authorities. UNISON has already lobbied for extra money to be provided and wants to find out how good authorities record storing/archiving is.

Branches should begin to raise the implications of the FoI Bill with authorities and employers, getting them to assess likely needs in terms of access/ staffing/storing.

In addition, Branches should try and ensure that where services are privatised/contracted out, etc. the private company/outside organisation is aware of the implications of FoI legislation. UNISON has been lobbying strongly for such providers of public services to be clearly included in the scope of the legislation.

However, there would be nothing wrong with some commitments from private sector employers or clauses added into contracts confirming the private sector's known enthusiasm for accessibility and freedom of information!

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Scots Workers set challenge

Research by Scottish daily paper Business AM shows that Scottish workers are more likely to pursue grievances and are more difficult to manage. The survey showed that 40% of those responding believed Scottish workers were more likely to follow up complaints and that they were harder to deal with. We're obviously doing something right!

The incidence of workers suing for unfair dismissal was the only question on which there was parity with English staff.

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Contacts list:
Dave Watson
d.watson@unison.co.uk
Dianne Anderson
d.anderson@unison.co.uk

@ the P&I Team
14 West Campbell St
Glasgow G26RX
Tel 0141-332 0006
Fax 0141-307 2572

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