Moving Forward on the Railways - integrated industrial relations and the public interest

Moving forward on the railway - integrated industrial relations and the public interest by Professor Keith Ewing

This publication was commissioned from the Institute of Employment Rights by the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF). Outlining the players in the industry, the problems and the solutions, the report concludes "there is a need for modern collective bargaining structures to provide a solid and stable base for the railway industry. The disintegrated and fragmented arrangements now in place have failed the people who work in the industry and the people who travel on the trains. An integrated railway needs integrated collective bargaining."

A4; 68pp; ISBN 1 9543781 1 3; Price for trade unions and subscribers £8; others £30; July 2003

Achieving Equality at Work

Achieving equality at work edited by Professor Aileen McColgan

CONTENTS Foreword Professor Barry Fitzpatrick, Chapter 1 Equality and diversity: a new framework? Aileen McColgan, Chapter 2 Race and work Karon Monaghan, Chapter 3 Towards sexual orientation diversity at work Sarah Hannett, Chapter 4 Diversity of religion and belief at work - the new legal framework Mark Bell, Chapter 5 Eradicating disability discrimination at work Mary Stacey, Chapter 6 What's the difference? the question of age Lucy Anderson, Chapter 7 Sex equality at work Aileen McColgan, Chapter 8 Enforcement and remedies Aileen McColgan

ABOUT THE BOOK The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976 were the first steps in building a framework of law to protect traditionally marginalised workers. Since then progress has been achieved on many fronts and consequently UK workplaces are more diverse than ever before. Despite this inequality remains a fact of life for many and the complexity of legislation makes it a difficult area of law to be readily accessed and understood. The European Employment Directive, due to be implemented in stages from December 2003, sets to extend protection to those workers currently not covered. Critics fear it may further confuse this already complicated area of law and on the eve of the Directive's implementation the Institute of Employment Rights has compiled a comprehensive report on the current law and the likely impact of the new legislation. The findings are detailed in our latest publication Achieving Equality at Work with each chapter written by an expert in their field.

210 × 135mm; 152pp; ISBN 1 9543781 2 1; Price for trade unions and subscribers £12; others £30; September 2003

Labour Law Review 2003

Labour Law Review 2003 by Jennifer Eady and Rebecca Tuck

As the Government undertakes its review of the Employment Relations Act, this year’s edition of Labour Law Review provides its usual authoritative insight into the main statutory and legislative developments in labour law.

The authors – two leading Barristers from Old Square Chambers – guide us through the possibilities provided by new legislation while also highlighting the problems associated with existing laws. The Review therefore provides a timely reminder of the pitfalls in our legislation and how the UK’s framework of law could be improved. Issues covered include the definition of industrial action, the role played by staff associations in recognition applications, TUPE and the new regulations, agency workers and their employment status, the extension of the working time regulations to excluded sectors as well as the important question of holiday payments. There is extensive discussion of the new discrimination regulations as well as a summary of leading cases. Finally the Review considers issues relating to employment tribunals such as time limits, compensation awards and procedures.

Once again, we are pleased to add to our Labour Law Review series with another readable and highly informative publication.

A5; 48pp; ISBN 1 9543781 3 X; Price for trade unions and subscribers £5; others £10; September 2003

Unfair Labour Practices

Unfair Labour Practices: trade union recognition and employer resistance by Keith Ewing, Sian Moore and Stephen Wood

On 6th June 2000 a new statutory recognition procedure came into force. The stated aim of the legislation was to ensure that where a trade union has the support of more than 50 per cent of the workforce, it should be recognised by the employer. Three years on, the Institute of Employment Rights has analysed the case-work of the Central Arbitration Committee – the body overseeing the procedure – and examined the extent to which the procedure has delivered on the recognition promise.

The report begins by outlining in some detail how the statutory recognition procedure operates and highlights the degree to which unions have been successful in winning recognition claims in the first three years. But the authors also raise concerns about the anti-union strategies used by employers to prevent unionisation. After detailing examples of such strategies, the authors warn that the changes to procedure expected to be made following the government’s Review of the Employment Relations Act are not radical enough to ensure that the recognition promise is delivered in the future.

The report ends with a series of policy recommendations, the main one being that an Unfair Labour Practices Clause should be added to the legislation to protect against employer interference in union recruitment and organising activities. This is a timely, authoritative and useful insight into the lessons to be learnt from the first three years of the statutory recognition procedures.

A5; 68pp; ISBN 0 9543781 4 8; Price for trade unions and subscribers £6.50; others £20; October 2003

Federation News. Promoting Equality at Work

Federation News. Promoting Equality at Work edited by Rosie Eagleson and Carolyn Jones

In 2003 the Institute of Employment Rights published a report entitled Achieving Equality at Work. In it, a number of leading equality experts critically examined the current framework of equality law and looked ahead to the possibility of improved and extended protection offered under the European Union Framework Directive on Employment Equality.

The first half of this edition of Federation News summarises and updates that report, highlighting the pace at which equality legislation is changing. A constant message running through the articles is that the current situation is good, but could be better. When discussing the various strands of discrimination, one issue stands out above all else – and that is the complex nature of the current framework of law. This problem has not been made any easier by introducing the most recent equality measures by way of Regulations rather than by primary legislation. According to a number of contributors, this will only add further complexity and inconsistency into an already over complex area of law.

Workers in Cuba

Workers in Cuba: unions and labour relations by Debra Evenson

Foreword by Eddie McDermott, Regional Secretary, T&G (South East & East Anglia) The publication of this booklet in England has arisen from a chance meeting in the Cuban equivalent of Congress House between members of a visiting T&G aviation workers’ delegation and Debra Evenson, the author, in February 2002.

Debra had just finished writing a much longer report on Cuban industrial relations and employment law that she was introducing to the Cuban trade union leadership, our delegation was almost ready to leave for the airport and fly home when one of our Cuban hosts thought we may like to meet Debra and so we were able to bring a copy of the longer work home with us.

Since 2002, we have been conducting a triangular correspondence between the T&G in London, Carolyn Jones at the Institute and Debra in Havana turning the longer work into the Comparative Note that you have before you.

The T&G is extremely pleased to be associated with the publication of this booklet, not least because it makes concrete the work our Region of the T&G has been carrying out with the Cuban labour movement and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in the UK.

Readers will be impressed that this booklet is no mere “fanzine”. Debra reports on the Cuban unions critically recognising that, in the changing economic environment, there is a pressing need to equip its shopfloor leaders, its shop stewards, with the skills necessary for an effective presence in the workplace, such skills as representation on workers’ rights and collective bargaining.

She also explains how, almost uniquely in the developing world, the unions in Cuba have negotiated a system that guarantees Cuban workers their domestic employment rights when working for foreign owned corporations.

A study of industrial relations and employment law in Cuba was long overdue; this booklet will hopefully bring the situation in Cuba to a wider audience.

A5; 28pp; ISBN 0 9543781 5 6; Price for trade unions and subscribers £5; others £10; November 2003

Health and Safety at Work: Revitalised or Reversed?

Health and Safety: revitalised or reversed? by Professor Phil James and Professor David Walters

Each year over 40,000 workers die or suffer major injuries as a result of accidents at work. As many as 20,000 workers may die of occupational illnesses. In an effort to reduce such carnage, the Institute of Employment Rights produced a report in 1997 analysing UK health and safety laws and suggesting a range of recommendations for government action. A year after the IER report was published the government published its own report, which contained proposals and targets for improving the system for health and safety at work.

This booklet revisits the IER’s recommendations and compares them to the proposals put forward by the government. It goes on to critically consider the extent to which the government strategy has delivered a safe and healthy working environment before outlining what we believe still needs to be done to protect people at work.

The conclusions are stark. The government has failed to take forward any of the legal reforms proposed in its own report. Statistics to date suggest that the majority of the targets set by the government will not be achieved. Indeed rather than being revitalised, there are signs that standards of health and safety have, in fact, been reversed over the last three years.

This booklet is essential reading for all those involved in trying to secure a safe and healthy working environment and an end to preventable accidents, illnesses and deaths at work.

A5; 48pp; ISBN 0 9543781 6 4; Price for trade unions and subscribers £6.50; others £20; February 2004

Pension Promises and Employment Rights

Pension Promises and Employment Rights by Bryn Davies, John Grieve Smith and Ivan Walker

Pensions have rarely been out of the headlines in recent years, with the collapse of high-profile occupational schemes and mis-selling of personal plans sitting uncomfortably beside the Government’s aim of reducing the State’s role and making us responsible for funding our own old age.

But cutting away the hype and confusion to get at the truth is almost impossible and most of us have no idea where to begin.

Now the Institute of Employment Rights has published a booklet that evaluates the pensions crisis and explores how the Government’s planned changes will affect both public and private sector workers.

The booklet looks at the legal, industrial and economic issues surrounding pensions and explodes many of the myths that underpin current pensions thinking.

Authors Bryn Davies (Union Pension Services), economist John Grieve Smith and solicitor Ivan Walker cover issues including: who should deliver the pensions promise? State, private or occupational?; can we afford our pensions? The economic reality behind the rhetoric; and how an ageing population and sex discrimination impact on pension provision.

Among the authors’ assertions are that the State has a responsibility to ensure the provision of a decent standard of living in retirement through both State and complementary private pensions, and that our economy is prosperous enough to ensure all workers – and not just a minority, as at present – get such an adequate income.

A5; 60pp; ISBN 0 9543781 7 2; Price for trade unions and subscribers £6.50; others £20; February 2004