The Tensions between the UK Government and the Fire Brigade Union - Dissertation Example

Employment Relations Review of the role of government in employment relations by analyzing the current tensions between the UK government and the Fire Brigade Union, Your Name University/College Name 9th January, 2008 Introduction The paper reviews the role of government in employment relations and the main actors involved. The essay considers the relevant employee relation's actors and examines the interests of these actors and their importance. One of the major actors is the Trade union and the paper explains the process of trade union recognition. The various procedures and legal considerations are discussed. Then the paper assesses the interests, advantages and disadvantages of recognizing a trade union from the perspective of an employer. Then the main elements of partnership in employee relations are elaborated. The advantages and disadvantages of partnership are discussed and the situation existing in the current tensions between the UK government and the Fire Brigade Union is elaborated. Finally, the Strategy, tactics and models relating to HRM in managing Employment relations are discussed. The Main actor on the behalf of the government in consideration of relevant employee relation includes the Trade Unions. Trade Union Recognition; the process The provisions of the Employment Relations Act 1999 relating to compulsory trade union recognition for collective bargaining purposes came into force in the UK on 6 June 2000. The 1999 Act inserts a new schedule A1 into the Trade Union and Labor Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and this schedule contains the detail of the procedure for trade union recognition. The main elements of trade union recognition include: The first period is the period of ten working days after the request for recognition is made. If during the first period the parties agree the identity of the Bargaining Unit (BU) and that the union is to be recognized as entitled to conduct collective bargaining, the union is recognized. The second period is the period of 20 working days after the end of the first period or such longer period as the parties agree. If the employer indicates during the first period that it is willing to negotiate with the union, negotiations are to take place during the second period. The parties may request the assistance of ACAS in such negotiations. If agreement is reached during the second period the union will be recognized. Secret ballot The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) must arrange a secret ballot if one of three conditions is satisfied:- The CAC is satisfied that a ballot should be held in the interests of good industrial relations; or a significant number of trade union members within the BU inform the CAC that they do not want the union toconduct collective bargaining on theirbehalf; or the CAC doubts whether a significant number of trade union members within the BU want the union to conduct collective bargaining on their behalf. The ballot must be conducted by an independent qualified person appointed by the CAC. The Recognition and De recognition Ballots (Qualified Persons) Order 2000 (SI 1306/2000) specifies the conditions which must be satisfied in order for an individual or partnership to be a qualified person. The ballot must be conducted within twenty working days of the appointment of an independent qualified person.. Schedule A1 sets out detailed provisions for the conduct of the ballot. There is also a Code of Practice on Access to Workers during Recognition and De recognition Ballots which came into effect on 6 June 2000. If the result of the ballot is that the trade union is supported by a majority of the workers voting and at least 40% of the workers constituting the BU, the CAC must issue a declaration that the trade union is recognized to conduct collective bargaining on behalf of the BU. Caroline Carr, Employment Law Consultancy - Trade Union recognition, August 2000. http://www.bto.co.uk/articles/elc_articles_3.htm Examination of the interests of Trade Unions and their importance 1. It can act as a focus for communication 2. It provides consultation and helps build a good working relationship between management and the workforce. 3. It develops employee involvement in discussing pay, conditions and other issues withmanagement through their union, they are likely to feel more involved in the way the business is being run. 4. The union will also be able to represent the workforce at difficult times when emotions can run high, for example, if management need to make redundancies or sell the business, management can get the help of unions to communicate to employees 5. The Management may also be able to make better-informed decisions withthe benefit of constructive input from workers who have the relevant skills and knowledge. 6. Unions are likely to have a broader perspective on many issues. The disadvantages of trade union recognition include: 1. It takes a very long time to get recognized. 2. It is a costly procedure to undertake. 3. Training staff on the various aspects is a cumbersome process. 4. A lot of strict rules have to be complied by the organization. 5. The looming number of strikes by trade unions is an alarming signal to the management. 6. Political Infiltration is a serious problem with trade unions. Most of the trade unions have political support and they demand things from management instead of negotiating. -Garry Dessler, Human Resource Management, Eastern Economy edition. Pg 395-425. Partnership in Employee Relations; the elements The elements of a partnership include securing the workers fair wages, safeguarding the security of tenure and improve conditions of tenure, improving opportunities for promotion and training, improving working and living conditions, providing educational, cultural and recreational facilities, co-operating in and facilitating technological advance by broadening the understanding of workers, promoting the identity of interests of the workers with their industry, promoting individual and collective welfare. In a broad sense, the elements of partnership include promotion of national integration, influencing the socio-economic policies of the community through active participation in their formulation at various levels and instilling a sense of responsibility among the employees towards the industry and the community. -Francis Cherunilam, Business Environment, Himalaya Publishing. Pg. 499-508. Partnership in Employee Relations; Importance The working relationship between employers and employees can be very fragile at times and must be handled with great care. Working in partnership strengthens that relationship. It is about management and the workforce working together towards a common goal: business success. Partnership is widely regarded as a cornerstone of business success. For many organizations, partnership also represents a best practice, modern approach to employment relations and a commitment to ensuring mutual gains. By working together, employers, trade unions and employee representatives can ensure that workplace modernization benefits both the organization and its employees by accepting and exercising joint responsibility. Partnership can bring commitment, motivation, loyalty and productivity, build a robust employee relations strategy into the organization, ensure that the employment contract best fits the employee/employer relationship, identify the influence of new labor initiatives on terms and conditions of employment, provision of grievance and disciplinary consultants to give a neutral facilitation in all situations, the power to internally influence and negotiate change, focus on poor performance and building effective strategies for improvement, provide a stable platform for bringing management and workforce together to meet the business objectives. The major drawbacks of partnership include limited representation of the total workforce, small size leading to financial problems, multiplicity of unions causes dilemma when crucial decisions are to be made, inter-union and intra-union rivalries, political infiltration, outside leadership, meager funds, low income, illiteracy, lack of integrity and unhealthy attitude of employers. -Bachon Nicholas, Storey John, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 38, No. 3, September 2000, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/displayabstractsearch.cfm -Francis Cherunilam, Business Environment, Himalaya Publishing. Pg. 499-508. UK Government and the Fire Brigade Union - The Issue Whitehall needs to urgently re-think plans to close all 46 emergency fire controls in England and move to one control for each region says the Fire Brigades Union. The call came after an announcement that plans to reduce the number of emergency fire controls in Scotland have been halted. Scotland will now get all the benefits of an enhanced digital radio system, interoperability between emergency fire controls and other emergency services, modern data terminals in fire appliances and real time updates of the exact position of vehicles much cheaper and much faster than England. In England the regional control project is now running years late, costs are ten times the original estimate of 100 million and it is placing enormous burdens on the fire service. "It makes a real difference when Government takes the time to engage with frontline staff and the fire service before key decisions are made. Whitehall made poor decisions in the face of overwhelming opposition within the fire service at the time. "The Whitehall obsession with a regionalized structure in England is bleeding the fire service dry of money and personnel. This is an example of public money being wasted on another IT project of dubious benefit and which diverts money from frontline services. In a written House of Commons answer given on 27 October 2005 on the original estimates of the costs of regional fire controls in England fire minister Jim Fitzpatrick said consultants Mott MacDonald "estimated project costs at 100 million, comprising project management costs, technology costs, accommodation costs and redundancy." The costs are now officially over 1 billion and rising. - http://www.fbu.org.uk/campaigns/outofcontrol/index.php Strategies to be adopted by the Government In this era of globalization, managing workforce remains a huge challenge. A lot of Management styles are used by HR to overcome this challenge. Other Challenges include Mncs May Subvert National Level Employment Regulations That Obstruct Their Interests, In Fast Food Industry, Large Companies, E.g. McDonalds Often Use Power To Enable Them To Avoid Employment Regulations That Do Not Suit Them, Countries Frequently Offer Mncs Incentives Including Relaxation Of Employment Regulations To Attract Investment, Mncs Can Use The Threat Of Withdrawal Or Disinvestment To Secure Government Favour Or To Control Employee Behaviour, Mncs May Therefore Base Decisions On Regime Competition In Respect Of The Relevant Attractiveness Of The Country's Employment Regime, Changes in the labour market, Shift from production to service industries, increased participation of women, Changes in the location of work - Greenfield or outsourcing, Growth of part-time, self employment and perceptions of job insecurity. To combat these challenges, a lot of strategies and approaches are adopted. One of the strategies include Ethnocentric Management Style According to this style, the top management and the decision makers are from the home nation and all the other level employees are recruited from the host nation. This will ensure adhering to the labour laws and regulations pertaining to the host nation. This will ensure the integration of the workforce and smooth functioning of the concern. HRM and Employment relations: A Mixed Approach Managing Diversity Companies need to focus on diversity and look for ways to become totally inclusive organizations because diversity has the potential of yielding greater productivity and competitive advantages. Stephen G. Butler, co-chair of the Business-Higher Education Forum, believes that diversity is an invaluable competitive asset that America cannot afford to ignore. Managing and valuing diversity is a key component of effective people management, which can improve workplace productivity. Demographic changes (women in the workplace, organizational restructurings, and equal opportunity legislation) will require organizations to review their management practices and develop new and creative approaches to managing people. Changes will increase work performance and customer service. The need to understand diversity is also driven by women in the workplace. Today's workforce has the highest levels of employment participation ever by women. The number of dual income families and single working mothers has increased. Change in the family structure means that there are fewer men and women in traditional family roles. Therefore, diversity issues cut across both race and gender. Women face discrimination in three aspects: Pay, promotion and Sexual harassment all over the world. Equal Employment Opportunity Equal Employment opportunity is nowadays made mandatory and is distributed to the employees along with the CTC Package at the time of joining the concern. Equal Employment is assured through laws and legislations while managing diversity mainly deals with improving the efficiency of the employees by developing team spirit among them. Federal and State equal opportunity legislation make discrimination in workplaces illegal. These laws specify the rights and responsibilities of both associates and employers in the workplace and hold both groups accountable. Some of the acts include: Civil Rights Act, 1964; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); Equal Pay Act, 1963; Employment Act, 1967; Vocational Rehabilitation Act, 1973; Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 1978. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act says that an employer cannot discriminate on the basis of color, race, religion, sex or nationality with respect to employment. The EEOC created by Title VII is empowered to investigate job discrimination complaints and sue on behalf of complainants. Affirmative action is the popularly used technique to ensure equal employment opportunity. Here steps are taken for the purpose of eliminating the present effects of past discrimination. The office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is responsible for implementing the executive orders and ensuring the compliance of federal contractors. The Equal pay act of 1963 requires equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex. The Age discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits arbitrary age discrimination and specifically protecting individuals over 40 years. Cases of Discrimination and role of HRM Discriminatory Recruitment Practices: The Word of mouth dissemination of information about job opportunities when your work force is all white or all members of some other classes reduces the likelihood that others will become aware of the jobs and thus apply for them. Other practices include misleading information and Help wanted Ads gender specific. Discriminatory Selection Standards: These include Educational requirements, Tests, Preference to Relatives, Height, weight and physical characteristics, Arrest records, Application forms and discharge due to garnishment. Treatment Discrimination occurs after a person is hired and takes the form of limiting opportunities (e.g., training, promotion, rewards) or harassing certain individuals because of who they are (e.g., women, members of a racial or ethnic minority). Sexual harassment occurs most often against women in the work place. This takes many forms, from unwanted off-color jokes and comments, to outright unwanted sexual propositions and touching, to offers for job rewards in exchange for sexual favors. This also refers to harassment on the basis of sex that has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with a persons work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. An employee can prove sexual harassment in three main ways: Quid Pro Quo, Hostile environment created by supervisors, coworkers or non employees. Other cases of Discrimination include discriminatory promotion, transfer, and Layoff Practices. Required Tools for Managing Diversity Effective managers are aware that certain skills are necessary for creating a successful and diverse workforce. First, managers must understand discrimination and its consequences. Second, managers must recognize their own cultural biases and prejudices. Diversity is not about differences among groups, but rather about differences among individuals. Each individual is unique and does not represent or speak for a particular group. Finally, managers must be willing to change the organization if necessary. Organizations need to learn how to manage diversity in the workplace to be successful in the future. Unfortunately, there is no single recipe for success. It mainly depends on the manager's ability to understand what is best for the organization based on teamwork and the dynamics of the workplace. According to Roosevelt (2001), managing diversity is a comprehensive process for creating a work environment that includes everyone. When creating a successful diverse workforce, an effective manager should focus on personal awareness. Both managers and associates need to be aware of their personal biases. Therefore, organizations need to develop, implement, and maintain ongoing training because a one-day session of training will not change people's behaviors. Managers must also understand that fairness is not necessarily equality. There are always exceptions to the rule. Managing diversity is about more than equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. Managers should expect change to be slow, while at the same time encouraging change. Another vital requirement when dealing with diversity is promoting a "safe" place for associates to communicate. Social gatherings and business meetings, where every member must listen and have the chance to speak, are good ways to create dialogues. Managers should implement policies such as mentoring programs to provide associates access to information and opportunities. Also, associates should never be denied necessary, constructive, critical feedback for learning about mistakes and successes. Some of the HRM tools to manage diversity and face the issue of discrimination include: Application of perfect laws and legislations against discrimination Affirmative actions Diversity training Cross cultural education Socialization and Orientation Career development Mentoring women and minorities Sexual and racial harassment training Communication exercise Personality development Storey's Model of HRM - Human Resources Give a Competitive Edge - Commitment More Important Than Compliance - Careful Selection and Development Critical - Hr Decisions of Strategic Importance - Senior and Line Managers Need To Be Involved In H.R - Culture Management More Important Than Processes - Integration of HR Policies Is Essential - Job Design Needs To Provide Responsibility And Empowerment Managing Change - HRM Techniques (Model - Appendix) Organizational development is defined as a process used to enhance the effectiveness of an organization and the well being of its members through planned interventions. The most commonly used interventions in managing change are human Processual, socio technical systems, techno structural and organizational transformation. Human Processual interventions are directed at improving interpersonal, intra group, and inter group relations. This enables the OD Consultant to improve the interpersonal communication in the work place and avoid conflict among employees. The most common human Processual intervention studies are survey feedback and team building. Techno structural interventions focus on improving the work content, work method, and relationships among workers, and lowering cost by replacing inefficient materials, methods, equipment, workflow designs, and costly unnecessary labor with more efficient technology. This intervention enables the OD Consultant to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization as a whole. Socio technical systems focus on seeking innovative ways of increasing productivity and worker satisfaction through redesigning workflow structures, work methods, and work content. This intervention enables the OD Consultant to reengineer the entire existing processes and implement new work methods suiting the existing work force. Organizational transformation interventions are used for large-scale strategic, cultural changes, learning organization, and high performance systems. An OD consultant can get the aid of all these interventions to bring changes at different levels from changing the interpersonal communication to altering the work methods and creating a learning organization. Human Processual interventions focus on changing behaviors by modifying the individual attitudes, values, personal styles and ultimately this leads to better problem solving. Team building aids teams to solve problems collectively with a lot of alternatives through brain storming and finally selecting and evaluating a solution. This drastically improves the problem solving skills on an individual basis over a period of time. Techno structural interventions focus on improving the work content, work methods leading to new job designs. A strategy called Job enrichment can induce positive psychological changes resulting in improved performance and satisfaction. This induces employee involvement and increases the level of worker participation in solving complex organizational problems. Socio technical systems seek to fit between the technological configuration and the social structure of work units resulting in the rearrangement of relationships. Here innovation is the main key and the employees are encouraged to come out with innovative ways of managing situations and solving problems. This innovation style enables the teams and employees to improve their problem solving capabilities. Some of the techniques include quality circles, total quality management, and self managed teams. Organizational transformation interventions view organizations as a complex, human system, each possessing a unique culture, character and value system. These interventions expose employees to face complex problems in the organization and induce them to take decisions under pressure. This enhances the problem solving skills of the employee and the team as a whole. Thus the various process interventions expose the employees to different problem situations and enhance their capability of problem solving to a great extent. Randy L. Desimone, Jon M. Werner and David M. Harris, Human Resource Development, Pearson education. Pg. 570 - 585, Pg. 605-606. Summary & conclusions Employee relations now have a greater focus on the individual employee rather than the workforce as a whole. Its purpose today is to build partnerships between the employer and the employee. The ultimate goals of employee relations include Development of the employment relationship and contractual regulations by introducing a strong link between the employee contract and the employment relationship that is based on UK employment law, Establishing the terms & conditions of employment by developing a fair process of implementation that meets the organization's objectives and the employee's needs, Developing fair management procedures by interpretation of UK employment law and EU regulations in order to implement fair and structured processes that provide a tactful method of management, Establishing performance management by defining expectations and communicating to individuals what they have to achieve in the form of objectives, how performance will be measured and what skills are needed to deliver required results, Developing communication by establishing a framework of communication that allows the management to communicate effectively to the workforce and ensures that the employee information needs are met Reference: 1. Garry Dessler, Human Resource Management, Eastern Economy edition. Pg 395-425. 2. Francis Cherunilam, Business Environment, Himalaya Publishing. Pg. 499-508. 3. Randy L. Desimone, Jon M. Werner and David M. Harris, Human Resource Development, Pearson education. Pg.621-634. 4. Cummings & Worley, Organization Culture and Change , 2005, page 490 5. Bamber, Lansbury, Wailes, International and comparative Employment Relations, Fourth Edition, Pg. 360-380. 6. Caroline Carr, Employment Law Consultancy - Trade Union recognition, August 2000. http://www.bto.co.uk/articles/elc_articles_3.htm 7. Bachon Nicholas, Storey John, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 38, No. 3, September 2000, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/displayabstractsearch.cfm 8. http://www.pendragon-cs.com/ 9. http://www.fbu.org.uk/campaigns/outofcontrol/index.php Appendix: CHANGE INTERVENTION ORAGANISATIONAL INDIVIDUAL ORAGANISATIONAL TARGET ORGANISATION OUTCOME VARIABLES MEMBERS Source: Randy L. Desimone, Jon M. Werner and David M. Harris, Human Resource Development, Pg. 573 Change Model Read More