Having unions in the workplace ‘saves employers money’

Retention is higher and there are fewer tribunals, claims TUC report

Recognising unions in the workplace brings employers benefits that outweigh the costs associated with giving representatives time off for their duties, a report published by the TUC has suggested.

The report, written by Gregor Gall, professor of industrial relations at the University of Hertfordshire, is a response to government policy clamping down on paid ‘facility time’ for union reps in the public sector. Figures from the Taxpayers Alliance widely used in the debate over the issue have indicated that £113 million in public money is spent per year on union reps time away for union duties.

The report Facility Time for Union Reps: Separating fact from fiction uses BIS figures to illustrate that unionised workplaces – in the private and public sectors – have fewer dismissals, a higher staff retention rate, experience fewer employment tribunal cases and less instances of employee injury and ill-health. The report puts the savings accrued through these benefits at between £372 million and £977 million for the whole of the UK economy, between £223 million and £586 million of which relates to the public sector.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said that the figures on the cost of union reps had been “highly exaggerated and wholly inaccurate” and that “in reality they are nothing more than a thinly-veiled attack on unions and their ability to represent workers.”

He added: “Our research shows that there are huge benefits to employers – in both the public and private sectors – to be had as a result of the funding of facility time for union reps. Successive governments have recognised the moral, legal and economic case for supporting workplace reps – ministers would be wise to do likewise and avoid what appear to be ideologically-driven announcements designed to appease right wing backbenchers.”

Comments

Comments in chronological order (2 comments)

Colleen Rothwell-Murray 24 January 2012 18:11

Have your say...In my many years of experience of industrial relations in the Public Sector, trade unions were generally, useful. However, what irked the employer most of all was reference to collective agreements in which the individual employer played no part all.
Unionised staff were not seen as problematic, until the employer wanted change, which was not usually forthcoming. It is this intransigence that has given rise to the current hostility to the trade unions rather than unionised staff.

Report this post

tracey driscoll 26 January 2012 14:42

given that technology moves business and competition faster than ever these days the resistance to change that unions have demonstrated has not earned them any favours. Now more than ever we need protectors of the people but we need the union reps to EDUCATE the union members pro-actively with regards to the BIGGER world , the need to be competitive, the impact of china and India, the impact of new technology, what customers say about the company and how employees can SECURE their jobs by becoming pro-active partners in strategically managing businesses for job security for ALL.

Report this post