Carley, Mark

Following a period of speculation and lobbying by the social partners (*UK1101029I* [1]) and against the background of a steep recent increase in claims to employment tribunals (the bodies that adjudicate individual employment law disputes, see *UK0403101T* [2]), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS [3]) and the Ministry of Justice’s Tribunals Service [4] launched a public consultation [5] on resolving workplace disputes on 27 January 2011. The Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government describes the initiative as a significant first step in taking forward its planned review of employment law (*UK1005019I* [6]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/industrial-relations/employment-tribunal-reform-under-debate [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/thematic-feature-individual-labouremployment-disputes-and-the-courts-21 [3] http://www.bis.gov.uk/ [4] http://www.tribunals.gov.uk/ [5] http://www.bis.gov.uk/Consultations/resolving-workplace-disputes?cat=open [6] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/public-sector-cuts-loom-as-coalition-government-is-formed

Employees are entitled to take statutory ordinary paternity leave of one or two consecutive weeks if they become a biological or adoptive father. They qualify for such leave if they are the husband, civil partner (in a legally recognised same-sex civil partnership) or partner (a person who lives with the mother and child in an enduring family relationship, but is not a relative of the mother) of a mother or adoptive parent. The leave must be taken in the 56 days after the birth or adoption and the employee receives statutory paternity pay during the leave.

Employment tribunals adjudicate individual employment law disputes between employees and employers relating to issues such as unfair dismissal, pay, working time and discrimination (*UK0403101T* [1]). According to the most recent data (547Kb PDF) [2] from the Tribunals Service [3], in the year to 31 March 2010, 236,100 claims were made to employment tribunals, an increase of 56% on the same period in 2008–2009 and the highest figure on record. This increase was largely as a result of a 90% rise in multiple claims (made by two or more people, usually against the same employer) but also, the Service reports, ‘partly as a result of the changing economic climate’. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/thematic-feature-individual-labouremployment-disputes-and-the-courts-21 [2] http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/tribunals-stats-q2-2010-11.pdf [3] http://www.tribunals.gov.uk/

In March 2010, the European Commission [1] launched a first-stage consultation with EU-level social partners on certain aspects of Directive 2003/88/EC [2], the Working Time Directive (*EU1004011I* [3]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-commission [2] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0088:EN:HTML [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/industrial-relations-working-conditions/commission-consults-social-partners-on-working-time-directive-review

The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 [1] introduced, from April 2010, a right for workers in companies employing more than 250 staff to ask for time to study or train, on or off the job. The right applies after 26 weeks’ service with an employer. The type of training is not specified, but it is meant to improve the performance of the employee and the business. Employers are not obliged to pay for the training or the training time. However, they are obliged to consider the request and respond within a set time. Employers may turn down requests for several business reasons, such as cost, or an inability to reorganise work. The law had been due to be extended to organisations with 250 or fewer staff from April 2011. [1] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/22/contents

This annual review highlights the most significant developments that took place in industrial relations in the EU Member States and Norway in 2009, both at national and EU level. It first sets out the political context, then goes on to exam...

This annual review draws on data from the European Industrial Relations Observatory to examine industrial relations developments in 2008 in the 27 EU Member States and Norway, as well as the EU-level. It focuses, in particular, on restructuring and the global economic crisis, as well as on self-employed workers.

British Airways (BA [1]) lost GBP 401 million (€466.9 million as at 16 July 2009) in the 2008–2009 financial year, as the global recession hit the aviation industry. In response, the company is seeking both temporary and structural reductions in its labour costs, arguing that this is necessary for its survival. BA’s cost-cutting initiatives focus on: [1] http://www.britishairways.com/travel/globalgateway.jsp/global/public/en_

On 6 July 2009, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI [1]), the UK’s main employer organisation, issued proposals [2] for labour market reforms that it believes could ‘help stem the tide of job losses as the recession pushes unemployment towards three million [people]’ and save businesses. The move comes against the background of CBI predictions that unemployment will continue rising to peak at 3.03 million people in the second quarter of 2010. [1] http://www.cbi.org.uk/ [2] http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/Press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca12a8025671c00381cc7/9b9a4bacc1622174802575e400370f75?OpenDocument

EIRObserver is the bi-monthly bulletin of the European Industrial Relations Observatory. It contains an edited selection of feature and news items, based on some of the reports supplied for the EIROnline database over each two-month period. On top of this, EIRO also conducts comparative research on specific themes. This issue's comparative supplement examines the changes that are taking place in industrial relations in the organisations and sectors concerned by privatisation and liberalisation, with a particular focus on the example of the telecommunications sector.