Journal of Research & Scholarly Output 2006 - Grimsby Institute of ...

the growing trends of contractorisation and
reliance upon agency, peripatetic and lone
workers, create working environments in
which worker involvement requires a great
deal of thought and careful planning if it is to
be successful.
It may well be that the European Union will
continue to have a strong influence on the
development of legislation promoting
worker involvement. In April 2005, the
national information and consultation
regime commenced operation in parallel
with the European Works Council regime.
The Information and Consultation of
Employee Regulations 2003, which took
effect from 5 th April 2005, have the potential
to be one of the most significant pieces of
employment legislation ever to be
introduced in the UK. The Regulations will
enable employees in an affected business to
require their employer to set up a Works
Council. The employer will then have to
consult with the council on ‘decisions likely
to lead to a substantial change in work
organisation and contractual relations’. Its
scope is therefore very wide and potentially
covers mergers and acquisitions or
outsourcing of activities. Initially, the
Regulations impacted upon all employers
who have 150 or more employees in the UK.
However, employers of 100 or more
employees will be covered in 2007, and 50
or more in 2008. In addition to these
regulations, some employers are required to
inform and consult employee
representatives at a Europe-wide level
through a European Works Council.
However, the number is relatively low for a
number of reasons. Firstly, to be covered by
European Works Council legislation the
employer must have 1,000 or more
employees in Europe and 150 in two or
more European countries. Secondly, the
employer is only required to start
negotiations to establish a European Works
Council if a formal request is received. In
other words, if employees or their
representatives fail to make this request
then negotiations will not be triggered.
In countries such as France and Germany,
mandatory national works councils are
longstanding, with this recent legislation
suggesting that it is only a matter of time
before the UK catches up in this area.
These comments suggest that it will clearly
be a case of ‘watching this space’ for further
developments in worker involvement, along
with potential cases where employers,
under the scope of the aforementioned
legislation, fail to consult with their
employees over health and safety related
matters. Indeed, if the influence of the EU is
anything to go by, it certainly appears that
we will be continually pushed into a more
participative approach to health and safety
decision-making.
Taking into account the benefits of effective
WISH there is a strong case for fundamental
legislative review and reform for law that
lays out higher standards for worker
involvement, specifically in relation to health
and safety at work. However, it is also
important that legislation remains relevant to
the changing world of work, with an
appreciation of the evidence that suggests
that it is the increasing number of small
firms that tend to have more deficient
systems for worker involvement (Walters,
FOCUS Page Page 41