Reducing tribunal access nothing to do with growth and will usher
in a 'rogue's charter'
10 January 2011
Calls from the business lobby to make it harder for workers to
take employers to industrial tribunals have been decried as a
"rogue's charter" by Unite, the UK's biggest union.
The union is urging the government not to cave in to pressure
from business groups using the present economic difficulties to
attack employment rights and make it easier to sack workers.
The CBI is among those pushing for access to tribunals to be raised
from one year's employment to two, and for workers to pay an entry
fee to access the system of between £30 and £500.
Unite says this will return the country to a time when employers
could dismiss on a whim, has nothing to do with stimulating jobs
growth and is clearly an opportunistic assault on UK employment
rights, already the poorest in the EU.
Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary-elect, said: "Attacking
access to workplace justice would see this country hurtle back to
the dark days of Mrs Thatcher when an employer could say ‘get your
coat, you're fired‘ without any need to explain to a worker why
they have lost their job.
"It is utter nonsense to suggest that granting employers the
power to sack workers on a whim will stimulate employment.
All this will do is encourage hire and fire rogues to populate the
economy. Is this the face of working Britain Mr Cameron and
his government wish to nurture?
"The idea that the bulk of claims are vexatious is also claptrap
being put about by the business lobby. Most tribunal claims
are multiple claims, say on behalf of a group of workers who lost
out when their company went into administration. Where there
certainly is room for improvement is in helping small businesses
develop and improve their HR practices so that problems are ironed
out at the earliest opportunity.
"We will also totally oppose any suggestion that a just-sacked
worker should be expected to find between £30 and £500 in order to
even take their claim to court.
"Plainly and simply, these proposals are a shameless, cynical
attack on workers' rights. The government must not cave in to
these demands which have about as much to do with job creation as
the tooth fairy has to dental hygiene."
ENDS
For further information, please contact Pauline Doyle on 07976
832 861
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