Employee Relations, Trade Union Recognition

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Employee Relations

Assignment One: Trade Union Recognition Process and Partnership in the workplace based on the ‘Vertex’ Case Study

List of contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. The Process of Trade Union Recognition
  3. Advantages and disadvantages of Trade Union recognition
  4. Trade Union recognition at Vertex
  5. The elements of partnership in employee relations.
  6. Advantages and Disadvantages of Partnership in Employee Relations
  7. Indicators of success in Vertex
  8. Conclusion

  1. Introduction

This study investigates the process of trade union recognition in Vertex, a leading UK provider of outsourced business services and technology solutions with expertise in customer management, and identifies the main characteristics of partnership in employee relations. Report itself will be divided into two separate sections; first one will examine the recognition process with its advantages and disadvantages. It will also analyse the management rationale to firstly derecognise and then recognise the trade union. Second part will focus on partnership and the outcomes of this alliance. It will also try to evaluate whether the partnership with trade union was a success and if yes, why. Report will be based on employment relations books with authors including Ed Rose, Graham Hollinshead and Peter Nicholls as well as numerous publications from the World Wide Web. The information from government bodies like ACAS or BERR (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) was also very valuable and useful.

  1. The Process of Trade Union Recognition

According to many sources, including trade unions and government bodies, trade union recognition process can be either voluntary or statutory.  Traditionally recognition of a union by an employer was purely a voluntary decision (Hollinshead, Nicholls, Tailby, 2003). It is also the most common form of trade union recognition (Business Link, 2007). In practice this means that the employer, without any legal actions undertaken by trade union, decides to recognise the trade union as a representative body of its employees. Sometimes the employers’ unwillingness and reluctance to recognise the union is so immense that union representatives, relying on Schedule A1 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, decide to demand the statutory recognition. ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) can provide impartial information and advice on a variety of trade union and associated issues and can fulfil a supportive role, for example in cases of voluntary union recognition, if both parties agree. In situations where such an agreement can’t be reached both parties can ask ACAS for help and use statutory recognition process to resolve the dispute. ACAS is allowed to organise a workforce ballot and then make recommendations for recognition. Failure to follow an ACAS recommendation could lead to a referral to the CAC who could then make an award on the terms and conditions that might have been negotiated if those negotiations had take place (Sargeant, Lewis, 2006). The statutory recognition covers employers with more than 20 workers and is very long, complex and with many stages. The process must begin with the written request to the employer by the trade union seeking recognition. The core elements are: formal request for recognition, employer’s response, CAC responsibilities, recognition declared and failure to agree (Hollinshead, Nicholls, Tailby, 2003). Both ACAS and the CAC are anxious for statutory recognition cases to be settled voluntarily wherever possible ­ and the CAC is required to promote voluntary settlements. Parties to statutory recognition cases are therefore encouraged to seek ACAS involvement whenever this could be helpful (ACAS, 2007).

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  1. Advantages and disadvantages of Trade Union recognition

Complexity and time consumption of recognition process may discourage some employers from an attempt to build a healthy relationship with trade unions but that coalition can sometimes be very beneficial to the company. It can act as a focus for communication and consultation but it also imposes obligations and responsibilities on the employer. One of the major advantages of unionisation is definitely having a single body that represents employees. It is much easier for employers to arrange a meeting with union representatives rather than with every employee. This structured ...

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