• Swindon & Wiltshire Experts
• Thursday August 15 2024
• Author Name: Peter Jones

Managing trade union members in your workplace

Labour reforms will increase the likelihood of SME owners having to negotiate with trade unions. Peter Jones of the HR Dept explains the rules around trade unions in your workplace.

While many people associate trade union action with large employers and the public sector, the fact is that, should your staff choose to be represented by a trade union, as an SME employer you are subject to the same legal obligations as bigger organisations. And all employees have a legal right to join a trade union.

When you should recognise a trade union

“Recognition” is a formal term in managing trade unions. It means there is an official relationship between a union and an employer, normally bound by a written agreement determining the scope.

Where you refuse to recognise it, but a union believes it has a legal right to represent some or all of your workers, then it can apply for statutory recognition.

Even if there is not a recognised trade union in place, your employees still have a legal right to be accompanied by a trade union representative in certain scenarios if they are a member and the rep is certified – for instance during a disciplinary hearing.

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is when a union can negotiate with you on behalf of its members. In fact, whatever outcomes are reached will apply to all connected staff not just those who are unionised – say a pay rise or a health and safety measure.

The areas in which a recognised trade union may enter collective bargaining are:

• Collective redundancies
• Transfers of business ownership and TUPE
• Some changes to pensions schemes
• Health and safety

Working effectively with trade unions

Many SMEs will never find themselves in the circumstances of having to work with trade unions – although Labour reforms will increase the likelihood. However, if you do, here are some tips:

• Approach all dealings positively. Although when in the news, the employer/trade union relationship seems to be defined by conflict, it is in everyone’s interests to find a workable way forward and have a successful company.
• Ensure you are well informed on what the law says. There are procedures to follow, and limits which restrain both what you and they can do.
• Take what they say seriously and with an open mind – they may be an effective two-way channel for communicating important matters like health and safety and employee retention.

What will change under Labour?

In their manifesto, Labour promised to give more power to trade unions, and following their election victory and the King’s Speech, the wheels have been set in motion.

Legislation still has to pass through Parliament, but it looks like the 2016 Trade Union Act will be repealed, relaxing stringent controls on how unions could call for industrial action.

They also intend to make it much easier for a trade union to be recognised, proposing to reduce the threshold from 40 per cent of all staff voting to join, to a simple majority of those staff who make the effort to vote.

Peter Jones runs the HR Dept in Swindon and Wiltshire https://www.hrdept.co.uk/swindon-north-wiltshire-east-cotswolds/