14/10/2022
Strikes are once again in the news. Mail and railway staff, refuse workers and journalists have all stopped work recently in protest against their pay and conditions.
Strikes are once again in the news. Mail and railway staff, refuse workers and journalists have all stopped work recently in protest against their pay and conditions.
But while industrial action can bring disruption and hardship, it must go through a clear legal process before it can take place.
Under this process, action becomes ‘protected’ by ‘statutory immunities’ from legal liability, otherwise striking staff may be in breach of their employment contract or in breach of services.
To be considered protected, a dispute with an employer must be first established, then any trade union calling for the industrial action must hold a secret ballot of members and finally, notice of any impending action must be given to the employers.
A strike is just one form of industrial action. There are others such as a ban on overtime, working to rule, a go-slow and a refusal to co-operate with management in areas such as job evaluation or the implementation of new work practices.
The issue is a minefield of definitions, processes, statutory requirements, legal obligations and appropriate responses.
The task therefore for a business is to know where it stands legally and what action it can take in response when faced with the prospect of industrial action by its employees.
And to acquire and maintain that knowledge, a business must be able to rely on its HR function.
HR will ensure management keep up to date with the ever-growing complexities of employment law.
For example, the law was changed just a few months ago so that employers are now allowed to take on agency staff to replace striking workers.
As a resource to be tapped into, HR also has a more active role to play during industrial action and should have a seat at the negotiating table when discussions get under way to resolve the dispute.
HR can also support management as it sets up contingency plans to alleviate the impact of industrial action and it can also ensure communication takes place with internal and external stakeholders.
There is also an important HR function that comes into play long before a business gets to the stage of having to tackle a potentially damaging dispute with its workers.
In the bigger picture, HR can help ensure that management-worker relations are healthy and productive and can enable the building of trust and partnership between the two groups.
This crucial responsibility can be a huge burden to small or medium sized enterprises without the resources to manage them effectively.
And failure to maintain and manage those responsibilities could ultimately harm business reputation as well as performance.
The good news is that support and advice are out there for businesses to help them handle industrial action and prevent long-lasting damage distrust.
Sentient is an outsourced HR advice service providing up to date HR advice for employers.
Our priority is to offer guidance and direction to enable businesses to get the best performance out of their staff.
We are experts in the intricacies of employment law and we can provide employment, organisational and HR training to meet the specific needs that any businesses may have.
To find out more, just get in touch with us.
