Issue 141 – 09 December 2009

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Revised Acas Code of Practice on Time Off for Trade Union Duties and
Activities
The revised Acas Code of Practice on time off for Trade Union duties and activities will come into effect
early in 2010.

The revisions that will have the most impact for union representatives will be those relating to: the
provision of work and/or workload reductions for reps when time off for trade union duties/activities is
required, union reps being allowed (where resources permit) access to email, intranet and internet and
the procedures that should govern the use of such facilities, the confidentiality of electronic
communications between unions representatives and their members, and the policies governing the
payment of union representatives for time off taken to carry out trade union duties.

To coincide with these revisions, the TUC will in early December be re-launching it's Bargaining to
Organise resources. The revised materials will be available from the TUC website at www.tuc.org.uk/b2o.
Look out for alerts on the TUC and unionreps website.

Walker report on corporate governance of banks

UK banks and other large finance groups, such as building societies, should disclose the number of their
employees who earn more than £1 million a year, according to the review of the corporate governance
of banks headed by Sir David Walker.

The unions have been unimpressed. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said the review comes across
as: “The financial establishment putting forward the minimum proposals they think will head off root and
branch reform so they can get back to business as usual.

“The City will be sighing with relief and uncorking the vintage champagne today.”

Rob MacGregor, national officer for the finance union Unite, said: “There is still a long way to go before
we see the changes in culture and behaviour required in the boardroom of the banks. Simply tinkering
on the edges of this industry is totally futile."

Walker review: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/walker_review_261109.pdf

TUC: www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-17294-f0.cfm

Unite:
www.unitetheunion.com/news__events/latest_news/unite_reaction_to_walker_repor.aspx?lang=en-gb

Economy contracted less than thought

The UK economy contracted at a slower pace than originally estimated in the third quarter of the year,
the Office for National Statistics said.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 209 shrank by 0.3% on the previous quarter, an
improvement on the original estimate of a 0.4% fall.Nevertheless, the UK economy now has posted six
consecutive quarterly falls since the first quarter of 2008.

Office for National Statistics: www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/oie1109.pdf

Quality jobs
Employers are committed to improving the quality of jobs in the UK but lack guidance about how to
achieve it, says new report from employment consultants, The Work Foundation.

Far from seeing decent quality jobs and commercial or organisational success as conflicting objectives,
the Work Foundation says that growing numbers of employers see them as mutually supporting goals.

The Work Foundation: www.theworkfoundation.com/pressmedia/news/newsarticle.aspx?oItemId=199

Employers want default retirement at 65

Manufacturing companies want to keep the default retirement age of 65, according to The Consulting
Employment Survey 2009 published by manufacturers’ organisation EEF and CPH Consulting.

The survey of nearly 500 employers showed two-thirds (65%) back the retention of the default retirement
age of 65, the support slightly higher among large and medium-sized companies than in small firms.

The study also showed that most requests by employees to postpone their retirement had been
accepted by employers (84%).

The Age and Employment Network: http://taen.org.uk/news/view/414

Skills for Growth

The government published its Skills White Paper - Skills for Growth - on 11 November and subsequently
released the detailed skills funding plans for the next financial year (Skills Investment Strategy 2010-11)..

The TUC welcomed the broad thrust of the White Paper and in particular the focus on strengthening the
apprenticeships route further whilst also maintaining investment in key skills entitlements (e.g. Skills for Life,
Level 2 entitlement and Level 3 entitlement for young people). However, the TUC also highlighted that
achieving the goals set out in the White Paper would require a “genuine commitment from businesses to
invest in staff training” and a renewed focus by Government on the third of employers that currently
provide no training.

Unionlearn: www.unionlearn.org.uk/policy/learn-3112-f0.cfm

Department for Business Innovation and Skills: www.bis.gov.uk/policies/skills-for-growth

Glass ceiling in the boardroom

The list of shame of companies where there is no women director grew longer in 2009 – 25 or one in four
FTSE 100 companies have exclusively male boards in 2009 against 22 the year before, an annual study by
Cranfield University School of Management found.

There are other discouraging signs of progress being stalled at best in the 2009 Female FTSE Board Report
. Firstly, the number of women holding FTSE 100 directorships is steady at 113 after years of growth.

Companies with female executive directors numbered 15 in 2009 against 16 the year before. And there is
an overall decline in the number of companies with women on boards from 78 to 75 this year.

Also down from 39 to 37 is the number of companies with multiple female directors.

Cranfield:
www.cranfieldknowledgeinterchange.com/kihtml/topic/The%20Economic%20Downturn/0028/Report.pdf

Recognition win at engineering firm

The GMB general union has won recognition without a ballot at a Nottingham site of Canal Engineering
Limited in respect of a bargaining unit comprising "all employees in the bargaining unit described, with
the exception of managers, supervisors and office staff”.

Central Arbitration Committee: www.cac.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2751

Longer parental leave

Parents will have the right to longer parental leave, under new rules agreed by EU ministers.

The revised Directive on Parental Leave will give each working parent the right to at least four months
leave after the birth or adoption of a child (up from three months now). At least one of the four months
cannot be transferred to the other parent – meaning it will be lost if not taken – offering incentives to
fathers to take the leave. The new Directive also provides for better protection against discrimination and
a smoother return to work. It puts into effect an agreement between European employers and trade
union organisations.

The new Directive will be formally adopted in the coming months and member states will then have two
years to transpose the new rights into national law.

European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=650&furtherNews=yes

Economy expected to grow next year

The economy is expected to grow in 2010, according to forecasts collated by the Treasury.

The range of forecasts made in the last three months, excluding the one dissenting for voice is for growth
of between 0.8% and 2.0% in 2010.
Just one forecaster – Cambridge Econometrics - expects the economy to shrink by 0.5% next year.

Forecasts are also given for the likes of inflation and average earnings as well as medium-term forecasts
to 2013.

HM Treasury: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/200911forcomp.pdf

Pay freezes have peaked

Pay freezes have reached their peak, according to an analysis of settlements from Labour Research
Department’s pay and conditions database Payline.

The peak for pay freezes was in the three-month period from April to June, when 25% of all deals and 33%
of new deals (i.e. excluding second or subsequent stages of long-term pay agreements) were freezes.
This period also saw the highest number of wage cuts registered on Payline.

There has been a steady decline in pay freezes as a proportion of all settlements since then.

To see if you can access Payline for free follow the link.

Labour Research Department: www.lrd.org.uk/index.php?pagid=18

Petition calling for a ban on members of the BNP working as teachers or

serving on governing bodies
The teaching union NASUWT has a link to a petition calling on the government and devolved nations to
ban the members of the BNP and other far right organizations from working as teachers.

NASUWT: www.nasuwt.org.uk/SelectSurveyNET/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=76KJ9n2

Bullying in Wales
One in four (26.4%) civil servants working in Wales have been bullied at work and 44% experience
negative behaviour on at least a weekly basis according to an independent survey by the Glamorgan
Business School's Centre for Research on Workplace Behaviours (CRWB) for the PCS public and
commercial services union.

The initial estimates show that 39% of members with a long term health condition have been bullied and
that 41% of respondents have witnessed bullying in the workplace.

PCS: www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/DDCD5698-8961-4CAD-
9AC2C53C10A017EE

Teachers in Scotland down by over 1,300

The number of teachers employed in Scottish schools fell by 1,348 across Scotland as a whole. The cut
follows on from a cut of 975 in the previous year.

Ronnie Smith,General Secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said the figures make
“bleak reading” and it was “not acceptable for the Scottish Government and Local Authorities to
continue to blame each other and attempt to wash their hands of responsibility. We are reaching crisis
point”.

EIS: www.eis.org.uk/public.asp?id=428&dbase=3

Numbers working overtime down by half a million

The number of people working paid overtime in the UK has fallen by nearly half a million in the last year
to just under four million, a TUC analysis of official figures reveals.

Official data shows that in Summer 2009, 15.8 per cent of employees in the UK earned paid overtime, a
fall of 1.5 percentage points since Summer 2008. Employees were working an average of six and a half
hours paid overtime per week this year, a fall of 12 minutes on 2008.

The TUC believes the fall in paid overtime and the average hours worked since the recession are a
reflection of the sacrifices that employees, unions and employers have made in order to prevent further
job losses.

TUC: www.tuc.org.uk/work_life/tuc-17293-f0.cfm

Zero hours contracts at Gatwick

A disposable labour force of workers employed without guaranteed hours or a minimum income is
springing up at Gatwick, the UK's second largest airport, to replace permanent workers being made
redundant, Unite the union has warned.

Swissport, which provides baggage handling and check-in services at the airport, has dismissed paid
permanent employees and is replacing them with a casual workforce on zero hours contracts. The new
workers are forced to work daily shifts which have been as long as 17 hours, starting at 6am and going on
until 11pm.

Unite: www.unitetheunion.com/news__events/latest_news/hire_and_fire_disposable_lab.aspx?lang=en-
gb

UK and Denmark rapped over anti-discrimination laws

Anti-discrimination laws in the UK and Denmark aren't up to scratch, said the European Commission,
which has begun legal action against both countries.

It announced recently that it had sent a Reasoned Opinion - the first step in its legal process - to the
government highlighting areas of anti-discrimination regulation in which it said the UK and Denmark is
deficient.

Personnel Today: www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/12/01/53222/european-commission-raps-uk-

over-anti-discrimination.html

Return-to-work mothers face challenge

Returning to work after maternity leave is still a hugely daunting and difficult experience for many
mothers, according to new survey from the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).

More than one in three women (39 per cent) said they found going back to work after having a baby
‘difficult’ or ‘very difficult’, with 31 per cent saying their relationship with their boss had deteriorated since
they had become pregnant.

Despite a host of legislation and HR policies aimed at successfully welcoming mothers back into the
workplace, many say they’re still not receiving the support they need.

NCT: www.nct.org.uk/press-office/press-releases/view/184

Pension deficits and closure

The defined benefit (DB) pension deficits of the top FTSE 100 companies reached £72 billion at the end of
November, double that of the beginning of the year when the figure stood at £36 billion, according to
consultancy Towers Perrin.

The deficit is continuing to grow despite recently improving asset values, with equity market gains being
swallowed up by the continued growth on the liabilities side.

Meanwhile Vodafone is planning to close its £755 million final salary pension scheme to roughly 4,000 of
its employees.

Employee Benefits: www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/9726/23/5/3

Personnel Today: www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/11/26/53167/vodafone-moves-to-close-final-

salary-pension-scheme.html

New on the bulletin boards

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