UK Employee Relations Articles
Please note that many other articles with IR implications appear under different headings, e.g, employment law.
3 January 2008 - Full text of TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber's New Year message to trade union members:
November 19 2007 - An independent study report shows that Acas
is a highly cost-effective organization returning £16 for every pound invested in the employment relations service.
November 28 2006 - A new survey of almost 5000 managers by law firm Peninsula suggests
that the majority are concerned that this year's office Christmas parties will lead to employment tribunal claims
because of bad staff behaviour.
September 21 2006 - A report by ScanSafe, a global specialist
in managed web security, reveals significant differences in workplace web searching in the UK
and US.
September 14 2006 - A survey of top Irish organizations has found that almost 65 per cent of companies do not calculate the annual cost of absence to their business and have no idea what impact it has on their direct or indirect costs.
28 April 2006 - Today's annual TUC Trade Union Trends 'Focus on Recognition' survey
shows that the number of agreements signed with employers has fallen despite a
trebling of the number of trade union campaigns for recognition deals.
March 1 2006 - Employees are ignoring their organizations' Internet Acceptable
Usage Policies (AUPs) according to a survey by network security provider
SmoothWall.
December 28 2005 - TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber's New Year Messages focuses
on pensions as the major issue for 2006.
November 30 2005 - British Airways has announced plans
to re-structure the business and cut 35% (357) of its
1,715 management jobs by March 2008.
25 October 2005 - A Polish union official joins the North West TUC
to help Polish workers get a better deal at work.
30 September 2005 - A report from the CBI (the employers' organisation)
shows that British businesses have major concerns about the complexity of the new
employment tribunal procedures despite a fall in the number of tribunal cases
since the reforms were introduced last October.
27 May 2005 - 179 union recognition agreements were achieved in 2004, according to a TUC report.
1 July 2004 - 'Stop snooping', a report in a recent
edition of the TUC backed Hazards magazine, says that new technologies and the lack of
privacy rights at work mean bosses can monitor employees constantly and secretly, which
is bad for their productivity and health.
11 June 2004 - Work stoppages in the UK fell to just 133 in 2003 - the lowest ever recorded.
2 April 2004 - Workplace Mediation is becoming an increasingly popular dispute resolution method to resolve interpersonal employee conflicts including harassment and bullying complaints. Nora Doherty, Director of Professional Mediation Resolutions (PMR) explains what mediation is, how it can be most appropriately used by organisations and what kind of training staff may require.
2 January 2004 - TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber is challenging Britain's
politicians to produce an agenda for human resource management in the workplace and recognise the positive role that
unions play in promoting social justice and securing economic advance.
2 January 2004 - Digby Jones used his 2004 New Year message to say that ministers
should use the UK's stable macro-economic platform as a foundation for driving through an agenda
for enterprise.
21 December 2003 - According to the TUC, new laws being introduced to resolve more
workplace disputes represent a 'squandered' opportunity that might lead to an increase in Employment Tribunals
and threaten an employee's right to a fair hearing.
9 September 2003 - CBI Chief Digby Jones called for trade unionists to turn away from the language of
confrontation to a constructive agenda that meets the needs of the constantly changing and
ever increasing demands of a competitive, globalised economy.
9 July 2003 - From October 2004, there will be a requirement for
employers and employees to follow a minimum three-stage process to ensure
that disputes are discussed at work.
8 July 2003 - The Work Foundation has warned that
the DTI's plans to make organisations consult their employees about business decisions
are facing a huge challenge in trying to change the attitudes
and practice of the many companies hostile to employee consultation and information
disclosure.
7 July 2003 - The government is required to implement the EU Directive on Information and Consultation.
The DTI has now agreed a framework with the TUC and CBI.
12 June 2003 - Brendan Barber's City University Vice-Chancellor's Lecture.
6 May 2003 - the TUC warns the government that planned changes to Employment Tribunal procedures risk an increase in Tribunal claims.
3 March 2003 - A DTI review of The Employment Relations Act (1999) indicates that
it is succeeding in delivering
better working standards and promoting a new climate of co-operation
between workers and employers.
24 February 2003 - Trade union recognition is still rising across the UK, according to the TUC's annual
survey, Focus on Recognition, but the going is getting tougher as unions are left with smaller, more resistant
and obstructive employers to deal with.
1 January 2003 - Text of Brendan Barber's New Year message
15 October 2002 - A survey of organizational 'netiquette' from The Work Foundation
reports that employees are increasingly likely to be fired because of 'kiss and tell' and other inappropriate emails.
12 August 2002 - Acas will have a vital role to play in spreading good practice and resolving disputes
over the next few years, according to Acas Chair Rita Donaghy.
12 August 2002 - The UK workplace is increasingly becoming a zero tolerance
zone for bullies according to research published today by The Work Foundation.
25 March 2002 - Parcelforce Worldwide' workforce of 11,700 people
will be reduced by around 6,700, over and above natural turnover.
25 February 2002 - A survey of 600 senior managers by Amicus, the union for managers
and professionals in Consignia, indicates that the Post Office lacks
the skills, direction and leadership to cope with the challenges it faces.
22 October 2001 - £1.2 million of Government money is available to businesses and
organisations wanting to develop workplace practices
to improve communication between bosses and workers under a new round
of the DTI's Partnership Fund.
10 October 2001 - A three month truce has been declared between Royal Mail and the CWU union offering
industrial stability at Royal Mail until January 12.
8 October 2001 -
The consultation document Routes to Resolution: improving
dispute resolution in Britain has provoked an angry response about the
'partial privatisation' of ACAS from the Industrial Society.
Employee relations
17 May 2001 - ETUC/UNI demonstration calling
on Marks and Spencer to reconsider closure of their European operations
19 February 2001 - The TUC claims that 20,000 major workplace injuries a year could be
prevented, and a third of a million days sickness absence avoided
if more businesses and unions took a partnership approach to issues of
health and safety.
1 February 2001 - Over half a million temporary workers in the UK should benefit from changes
to employment rules.
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Employee Relations
