Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Is consultation the Achilles heel of UK staff relations?

by Personnel Today 6 Feb 2001
by Personnel Today 6 Feb 2001

The
Rover and Vauxhall job losses pushed the Government into its recent announcement
that it will review consultation with staff over large-scale redundancies.

This
review (News, 23 January) has been linked to the controversial EU draft
directive on information and consultation at a national level ñ a proposal that
has been fiercely opposed by both employers and the Government.

But
reviewing and reforming consultation practice will not create more jobs or stop
large-scale plant closures.

Underlining
the debate is a generally held view that consultation is weaker in the UK than
in other EU member states and, as a consequence, large-scale redundancies are
both cheaper and more frequent in the UK than in other countries. 

Consultation
is being used as a cipher for the continuation of an argument that is
ultimately about the degree and responsibility of countries to legislate or interfere
in the operation of the labour market. The current restructuring in the car
industry has been expected for some time and is a consequence of the
globalisation of that sector. The implications of that process for
manufacturing within the European car market have led to significant
restructuring.

But
as the evidence from other member states with more stringent consultation
requirements shows, tougher consultation laws will make closure of plants a
more complex, time consuming and lengthy process but will not, however, stop
the final closure of a plant with resultant job losses. For all the talk at the
time with banner headlines, strikes and political intervention, Hoover closed
its factory in France and moved the jobs to Cambuslang in Scotland and Renault
closed its car plant in Vilvoorde in Belgium.

Consultation
is about communication ñ an issue of critical importance for companies. A
well-informed workforce that is consulted on the issues that directly affect it
is a motivated workforce that provides real benefits for the organisation it
works for. Successive surveys have shown that a variety of methods can create
improvements. To be effective the information and consultation processes in a
company need to be aligned to the needs and practices of that company. To put
it crudely, one size does not fit all.

The
opposition from the UK to the EU’s general framework for information and
consultation has focused on the belief that the draft directive would impose an
alien "works council" type structure in all UK companies. It is not
surprising that a European Commission-drafted proposal on information and
consultation should reflect a system that is prevalent in the majority of other
member states. However, given that the EU proposal is to create a general framework
for informing and consulting employees there is no reason why the final text of
an EU proposal should simply impose a works council structure on every member
state. 

Amendments
to the draft directive increasingly place the onus on member states to
determine the way in which different aspects of consultation will occur.
Assuming this process of devolving issues for member states to make decisions
continues, then, if the draft directive is ever adopted, the real debate will
occur in the UK.

Whatever
the process, HR professionals will wish to ensure that any resultant UK
legislation reflects the existing diversity of practice and is not a
straitjacket. Even if formal political agreement, known as a "common
position", was reached by member states on the EU Directive now, the
earliest UK law would be introduced that affected companies would be 2004. A
later date is more realistic.

The
right of employees to be informed and consulted on decisions that affect them
is contained within the 1989 Social Charter, now incorporated into the treaties
and fully supported by the UK. Whether we like it or not, the issue of
consultation will not go away. However, no one should be under any illusion
that strengthening consultation laws will stop large-scale plant closures or
reduce unemployment.

By
Peter Reid,  European employee relations
adviser, working for PRC

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Socpo to expand its membership to 5,000
next post
Keeping on top of the E-Recruit revolution

You may also like

The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls

24 May 2022

Grants scheme set up to support women’s health...

16 May 2022

How music can help to ease anxiety at...

9 May 2022

OH will be key to navigating ‘second pandemic’...

14 Apr 2022

OH urged to be aware of abortion consultations...

8 Apr 2022

How coached eCBT is returning the workplace to...

8 Apr 2022

Why now is the time to plug the...

7 Apr 2022

Two-thirds of shift workers feel health affected by...

18 Mar 2022

TUC warns of April Covid risk assessment ‘confusion’

14 Mar 2022

Consultation on new NHS cancer standards, as waits...

11 Mar 2022
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+