Table of Contents

Introduction. 2

Incidences and Conduct of Collective Industrial Disputes. 3

Impact of Trade Union Act 3

Negative Implications. 5

Analysis. 6

Recommendations for Management of Employment Relations. 6

Conclusion. 10

References. 11

Introduction

The Trade Union Act 2016 (hereinafter referred as ‘the Act’) is a significant piece of legislation the United Kingdom which is implemented by the government with an objective to protect people from undemocratic industrial action. This Act is implemented because the union Unite is described as in its “dark day” which negatively affects workers in England (Ewing and Hendy, 2016). Through this Act, the government implemented a number of new rules and policies which are targeted towards making the industrial act lawful. This Act is a part of the UK labour law which was enacted the David Cameron administration. Through this act, the provisions gave under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 is amended. New policies and rules were implemented in this Act with an objective to make the freedom of association and collective action harder for parties (Bogg, 2016). The objective of this report is to evaluate the incidences and conduct of collective industry dispute while taking these considerations the provisions of this Act to determine how these policies have changed after the introduction of this Act. This report will also evaluate how this act has given rise in leverage tactics and how these factors affect the rights of parties. This report will also make recommendations for the management of employment relations for organisations involved in industrial disputes. This report will evaluate how industrial dispute, childcare and other factors affect their ability of employees to attend work and what actions can be taken to address these issues.

Incidences and Conduct of Collective Industrial Disputes

Industrial dispute is a major issue which affects many people and corporations operating in the country, and it also affects their operations. In 2017, more than 276,000 working days were lost by companies in the UK as a result of industrial disputes (ONS, 2018). Although the process has been made because it is the sixth lowest annual total when compared to the records that go till 1891; however, it is still a major issue which is a result of lack of management of industrial disputes. Due to these disputes, the transportation and storage sector suffered as well which accounted for 68 per cent for all working days in the UK. Mainly these working days were lost as a result of strikes in public transport due to the lack of management of trade disputes (ONS, 2018).

In 2017, around 33,000 workers were involved in labour disputes which were a result of the loss of working days in the country; however, it is a positive number when compared to the records that began in 1893 (ONS, 2018). The study conducted by the Office of National Statistics founded that there are three main measures which are used in order to measure labour disputes in the United Kingdom which include stoppages, workers involved and working days lost. These factors are compared with the industry, size, cause, duration and region in order to measure the results. There were 79 stoppages in 2017 in the UK which is the lowest number when compared with records that begin in 1891 (ONS, 2018). There are various factors that contribute to labour disputes in the United Kingdom that range from wage, health and safety, holidays and other issues.  

Impact of Trade Union Act

One of the key objectives of the implementation of this act is to make sure that the number of trade disputes in the country is reduced and they are resolved in a timely manner. This objective is achieved by this Act by implementing provisions regarding the lawfulness of industrial actions. As per the new rules, the industrial action will only be considered as lawful when there has been a ballot turnout of at least 50 per cent (Ford and Novitz, 2016). The provisions regarding these policies are given under section 2 of the Act. It provides that in certain circumstances, the members who are not in favour of industrial action are better off not voting then compared to voting “no” on the matter. This can be understood by the example of PCS Union pay ballot which was held in July 2018. In this case, the provisions given under this Act were applied which affected the outcome of this case. In this ballot, 50,726 members voted for ‘yes’ (85.6 per cent) whereas 8,528 voted for ‘no’ (14.4 per cent); however, the total turnout of this ballot as 416 per cent. In case the provisions of previous legislation applied in this scenario, then it would have been enough for the labour union to commence a strike on the matter which would have adversely affected a number of people.

However, as per the new provisions, there would have needed approximately 12 thousand additional votes which are necessary to be made by parties in order to call for a strike. Even if all 12 thousand members would have voted for ‘no’ in the ballot, even then, the majority of the people would have been voted ‘yes’ which would have allowed them to successfully call a strike. It shows that casting a ‘no’ vote would have resulted in allowing the ‘yes’ vote to apply in this scenario. This can highlight the changes brought by the Trade Union Act 2016 in the UK labour law resulted in reducing the issue of labour disputes in the United Kingdom by making changes in the previous policies. There are many changes relating to e-balloting is also introduced in this Act which would result in increasing the efficiency of the voting process by making it easier for members to vote through online mediums. The key issues involving these policies are related to the legitimacy of the voting in this method and the issue of security in the e-balloting (Ford and Novitz, 2016). Due to these issues, the government has not allowed the members of the trade union to use e-balloting for casting their votes; however, this situation might change in the future.

Furthermore, the provisions regarding “important public services” are also included in this Act for which amendments are made in relation to health, education and transportation. The new rules resulted in providing an additional threshold of 40 per cent which is given in the support for all the eligible members must be met for industrial action to be considered as legal (Ford and Novitz, 2016). As per the new provisions, the full details for which public services are given will be deemed as significant especially when they have not been confirmed. The goals of these policies are to make sure that people are only affected by the negative implications of industrial action when such action is supported by reasonable propositions of union members. Unless the action is supported by a significant number of members of the union, it will not be considered as lawful which would result in protecting the interest of the general public that relies on public services for conducting day-to-day operations. Through this act, the rights of the public are protected to make sure that they live their life fairly balanced with members’ ability to strike which is beneficial for a wide range of individuals. These changes are implemented in the new Act with an objective to make sure that workers are able to come out from ‘dark days’ of labour actions which were a result of the previous legislations that adversely affected the interest of labours, corporations and the general public. These policies highlighted the changes in incidences and conduct of labour disputes which have changed in with the implementation of new laws that are targeted towards protecting the interest of a wider range of stakeholders.

Negative Implications

However, many employment law experts also provided an opposing view against the laws implemented by the Trade Union Act by arguing that the new British strike legislation can result in escalating labour disputes which makes it difficult for parties to resolve them within a reasonable timeframe. One of the key reasons for these arguments is the extreme tactics which labour union members have to rely on in order to make sure that they are able to take the approval for a lawful strike (Syal, 2016). The union is driven in order to use leverage tactics such as demonstrating outside directors’ homes with an objective to take approval from the employees. These criticisms are made against the challenges faced by peers in relation to the imposition of trade union laws. Many of these leverage tactics are outside the traditional model of industrial action. Due to these policies, other bigger issues are occurred such as lobbying of third parties in the supply chain operations of the company, protests against the organisations, and direct actions involving managers or shareholders (Ewing and Hendy, 2016). The issue with the new regulations is that they are likely to increase the use of leverage tactics by labour union members in order to avoid what they considered as unfair behaviour which erodes both the legality and the impact of strike action and results in defeating the purpose of this Act (Ewing and Hendy, 2016).

The labour union members might be considered “leveraging” as a more efficient and cost-effective method in order to advance the industrial disputes rather than going through the process of balloting. Due to these policies, the relationship between the organisations and workers are likely to affect in a negative manner which will further lead to negatively affect a number of parties and the general public (Bogg, 2016). The provisions implemented for electronic voting was also disregarded by many employment experts in the country by stating that it could lead to negative consequences as a result of growth in the voter turnout. There are many other security concerns associated with these provisions as well that resulted in affecting the legality of the entire voting process and making it difficult for parties to determine whether the result of the vote is correct or not (Syal, 2016). However, this is not a major issue currently because the policies relating to e-balloting are not implemented by the government through this Act; but, they can become a bigger issue in the future.

Analysis

Although these policies have highlighted a number of negative implications of implementation of the provisions given under the Trade Union Act; however, the amendments brought by this Act also positively affect a large number of people. The key provisions of this Act are focused on reducing the number of labour disputes in which most parties are not interested in the first place (Bogg, 2016). The provisions for the protection of public interests are also included in this Act to make sure that people are able to use public services without negatively facing the issue of labour strikes. The provisions regarding the introduction of e-balloting might become an effective way of voting for labour disputes in the future after the advancement of adequate technologies to make sure that the legality of the voting can be maintained.

The provisions given under section 11 regarding opting of members of the trade union from making a contribution in the political fund is also a good example of policies that are effective in terms of protecting the interest of workers in the trade union (Legislation, 2016). Pursuant to section 13, the provisions which are imposed on trade union regarding the publication of requirements in the relation of facility time resulted in promoting transparency in the operations and also protect the interest of parties by reducing the number of trade disputes (Legislation, 2016). Based on these policies, the impact of the Trade Union Act on the incidence and conduct of collective industrial disputes is highlighted along with the rise of leverage tactics which will reduce the number of trade disputes in the future.

Recommendations for Management of Employment Relations

The growing number of industrial disputes resulted in creating challenges for organisations, workers and the general public which are necessary to be resolved to protect the interest of these parties. Effective management of employee relations of organisations that are affected by industrial disputes resulted in protecting the interest of workers and the corporations to make sure that they are not affected by these issues (Blain, 2017). Following are various recommendations that can assist in improving the industrial relationship and reduce industrial disputes among parties by implementing effective industrial relations management.

1. Clear identification of policies

The organisations and the union leaders should make sure that adequate policies are implemented to spread awareness regarding the new policies of the organisation that affect the rights of workers. In this regards, the personnel manager should make sure that workers understand and agree with these policies which reduce the issue of trade disputes (Eldridge, 2013). The clarity in these terms will also ensure that the employees and managers know their duties and rights which reduce the number of disputes between them. The clarity in terms will also ensure that parties are able to effectively deal with their industrial disputes and they will not escalate or become major issues if they will be resolved in a reasonable timeframe.

• Transparency

It is important that employees must have more transparency when they deal with the management and the trade union to reduce the issue of industrial disputes. The top-level management should make sure that they keep the workers informed regarding possible issues and changes which will be made in the future for addressing these changes (Gill and Meyer, 2013). These factors can be taken into consideration by the management which would allow them to make sure that workers understand why specific business decisions are made by the management along with the evaluation of their possible implications. This will also allow the management to take into consideration the opinion of workers regarding organisations policies which is crucial to reduce industrial disputes in the organisation that will reduce the negative impact.

• Opportunities to quickly resolve issues

During industrial disputes, the workers who wanted to work are not able to go to work due to employee strikes and trade disputes among the members. These factors also create challenges for the employees by making it difficult for them to earn a living by doing their work. Thus, the management should focus on resolving these issues in a quick manner to make sure that workers are able to go to work and earn a living and they are not affected by the negative consequences of the labour dispute (Barry and Wilkinson, 2016). The corporations should also ensure that there are adequate childcare facilities given to the workers which allow them to discharge their duties without being distracted regarding the welfare of their children.

• Taking advantage of feedback

The corporations can rely on feedback of employees to manage industrial disputes since it is highly beneficial for maintaining the inner working of the organisation. During the decision-making process, the management can rely on the feedback of workers to understand the necessary changes and policies which they expect from the organisation. After the implementation of these policies, the management can also rely on the feedback to collect relevant data regarding the opinions of the employees to make sure that they are able to express their views (Molina, 2014). This will promote two-way communication channels between the management and employees to make sure that the issue of industrial dispute can be resolved in a reasonable timeframe by communicating to find a potential middle ground for the parties.

• Cooperation is Key

In order to effectively manage industrial disputes, the organisations should rely on cooperation which is the key when it comes to addressing these issues.  Employees should understand that they are not competitors and cooperation allows them to achieve greater results which are beneficial for the company and themselves. There should be cooperation between the workers and the management to make sure that understand each other (Blain, 2017). The policies implemented by the organisation should also focus on promoting cooperation between individuals. For example, organisations should provide education facilities to the workers which allow them to develop themselves and grow their career. It will also benefit the company by ensuring that it has an adequate number of skilled and qualified individuals who are loyal to the organisation (Blain, 2017). These policies will assist companies in reducing the issue of industrial dispute and allow them to develop a positive relationship with their employees.

Conclusion

Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that the policies which are implemented by the Trade Union Act are focused on protecting the people from undemocratic industrial actions. New provisions and policies are implemented by the government which are targeted towards reducing the number of trade disputes and making it difficult for them to engage in unlawful labour disputes and strikes. These provisions are also implemented with an objective to protect the interest of the public to make sure that people are not affected by the operations of industrial disputes. There are various negative implications and challenges of these policies as well that could lead to escalating labour disputes and increasing their negative impacts. However, overall these policies are implemented for the benefit of the parties by giving rise to leverage tactics and other policies that reduce the number of undemocratic industrial action. Furthermore, various recommendations are given that are focused on effectively managing employment relations in organisations that are affected by industrial disputes to make sure that the interest of workers, corporations and the general public is protected. 

References

Barry, M. and Wilkinson, A. (2016) Pro‐social or pro‐management? A critique of the conception of employee voice as a pro‐social behaviour within organizational behaviour. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 54(2), pp.261-284.

Blain, A.N.J. (2017) Pilots and management: Industrial relations in the UK Airlines. Abingdon:  Routledge.

Bogg, A. (2016) Beyond neo-liberalism: The Trade Union Act 2016 and the authoritarian state. Industrial Law Journal, 45(3), pp.299-336.

Eldridge, J.E.T. (2013) Industrial Disputes Ils 151.Abingdon:  Routledge.

Ewing, K.D. and Hendy, Q.C. (2016) The Trade Union Act 2016 and the Failure of Human Rights. Industrial Law Journal, 45(3), pp.391-422.

Ford, M. and Novitz, T. (2016) Legislating For Control: The Trade Union Act 2016. Industrial Law Journal, 45(3), pp.277-298.

Gill, C. and Meyer, D. (2013) Union presence, employee relations and high performance work practices. Personnel Review, 42(5), pp.508-528.

Legislation. (2016) Trade Union Act 2016. [Online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/15/contents/enacted [Accessed on 12/06/2019].

Molina, O. (2014) Self-regulation and the state in industrial relations in Southern Europe: Back to the future?. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 20(1), pp.21-36.

ONS. (2018) Labour disputes in the UK: 2017. [Online] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/workplacedisputesandworkingconditions/articles/labourdisputes/2017 [Accessed on 12/06/2019].

Syal, R. (2016) Trade union bill could escalate disputes, warns employment law expert. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/12/trade-union-bill-escalate-disputes-industrial-law-expert-bruce-carr [Accessed on 12/06/2019].