Content area
Full Text
REDUNDANCY
A downturn in the economy, together with the continuing fall-out from the events of 11 September, mean that redundancies are once more
on the agenda. In a new survey of 144 workplaces, Bargaining Report provides examples of best practice in redundancy agreements.
These should assist reps who are seeking to negotiate agreements on redundancy or to improve on existing arrangements.
Job security
A good procedure agreement on redundancy will have a job security clause that commits the employer to avoiding redundancies where possible and, in particular, to avoiding compulsory redundancies. Taking those workplaces with formal procedures (81 % of those surveyed), 16% had job security clauses.
At Akzo Nobel Coatings, for example, the agreement specifies that the employer's aim is to re-deploy staff wherever possible to avoid compulsory redundancies.
At Naafi Leisure the partnership agreement says that the employer, where possible, "will safeguard employment security for all its employees" and that the primary objective of the job security agreement is "to minimise redundancy and offer continuity of employment".
Most job security agreements will specify the measures to be taken to avoid compulsory redundancies. The survey asked respondents to indicate the most likely measures used. Table 1 lists these, in order of frequency.
Seeking volunteers first is the most likely option. It was favoured by three out of four of the workplaces surveyed. Among the procedure agreements which include this provision are those for nuclear energy providers, BNLF, Weymouth College and the Christie Hospital NHS Trust. In two-thirds of the workplaces surveyed, including Dorset County Council, the news agency Reuters, print company Wiggins Teape and the pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline, new recruitment was stopped or restricted where redundancies were anticipated.
The next most popular option was to review the employment of temporary staff. In many workplaces this seems an acceptable way of off-setting the impact of redundancies among permanent employees. However, a new law that will be in force by July 2002 is likely to limit this method of selection. It will give temporary workers the right to be "no less favourably treated". A redundancy procedure, which specifies that temps will always be chosen first, is likely to fall foul of the new law. Negotiators should approach employers to discuss modifications...