Employers in Britain should consider agreeing ‘sweetheart’ arrangements with selected trade unions over union officials’ access to their workplaces before the end of summer, experts in employment law and industrial relations have said.
Andy Dixon and Sue Gilchrist of Pinsent Masons made the recommendation after the UK government published its finalised code of practice concerning the right of trade unions to access workplaces.
A statutory right of access for trade unions to workplaces in Britain is provided for under the Employment Rights Act (ERA) in what represents a significant expansion of union rights. The law imposes a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to facilitate access. The code, the creation of which is provided for under the Act, provides the practical framework within which the access rights will operate.
Among other things, the statutory process requires unions to submit a written access request and details a process that follows thereafter, which is designed to facilitate an agreement between the two sides on access. It provides scope for an independent tribunal, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), to impose an access agreement on the parties if they cannot agree one between them.
Employers and unions are encouraged to reach a voluntary access agreement. The process for doing so is not governed by the code, which only applies where unions trigger the statutory process.
Dixon highlighted how the code does provide employers with some limited...
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