The
chairman of the Central Arbitration Committee has defended the low number of
applications for statutory union recognition that the organisation dealt with
last year.
The
CAC was relaunched in June 2000 to process and adjudicate claims for union
recognition after the Government introduced new statutory procedures under the
Employment Relations Act 1999.
Sir
Michael Burton, chairman of the CAC, speaking at the publication of its annual
report said that the CAC had received about 85 applications for union
recognition over the last 12 months compared to the 100 to 150 applications
which had been predicted.
He
said this was probably because of the high number of successful voluntary
agreements between unions and employers.
Burton
added, “It seems clear from the statistics, which show a large increase in
voluntary recognition deals that many unions have been concentrating their own
resources in that direction and have tended to statutory recognition only in
cases where voluntary recognition has not been possible.
“This may yet mean a surge in applications rather
than the relatively constant stream which we are now experiencing. Further as
indeed the legislation envisages a considerable number of cases have been
overtaken or abandoned in mid course in favour of voluntary agreements.”
