Monday October 19, 2009 at 6:37am
The Royal Mail Dispute rumbles on with Trade Unions and management heading towards what seems to be mutual destruction.
Against this background, how could I successfully mediate this matter?
What are the key variables which would give a possibility of a settlement being reached? In particular, what are the variables that I would consider?
Focus on the Parties. One of the most neglected ways to reach a settlement is to focus on which parties to attend the mediation. It goe....
Saturday October 17, 2009 at 10:01am
With the two day Royal Mail strike looming and Mr Hayes, the leader of the Communication Workers Union, now receiving comparisons to Arthur Scargill, it may be a useful time to take a step back and give this matter more consideration.
In particular the parties are now receiving pressure to refer this martter to binding arbitration.
Now is a good opportunity to consider what is arbitration and how it differs to mediation.
Arbitration is the imposition of a....
Friday October 16, 2009 at 4:29pm
As Personnel Today points out the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has accused Royal Mail management of bullying and harassing postal workers as the war of words ahead of next week's strikes heats up. In a letter to Royal Mail chief Mark Higson, CWU leader Dave Ward claimed "unagreed HR procedures" were being used in an attempt to bully employees into agreeing to changes to working practices. The CWU said these referred to the firm ignoring pre-determined steps that any employee must ....
Thursday October 15, 2009 at 3:10pm
According to the Law Society Gazette, lawyers are witnessing a huge surge in unfair dismissal claims which is leading them to expand their employment teams but is also placing a severe strain on the tribunal system. Figures released by the Tribunals Service last week showed that unfair dismissal claims rose 29% to 52,711 in the year to March 2009. Cases relating to redundancy pay rose 48% to 10,839, while claims for failure to inform and consult over redundancy saw a high 154% increase....
Tuesday October 13, 2009 at 3:26pm
As Local Authority News reports, thirteen districts in Essex have joined the county council to form a new partnership to provide legal services.
The context is that all public services face a major challenge in the years ahead, as resources become scarcer – and local government will feel this as acutely as any. Essex Legal Services Partnership has created a new model for local government services, which enables the teams to improve services to clients and communities. The new way o....
Monday October 5, 2009 at 8:40am
Information has recently emerged on the number of Employment Tribunal claims being lodged.
As usual there is good and bad news.
The good news is the number of claims accepted by employment tribunals has fallen by a fifth. Employment tribunals accepted 151,000 claims in 2008-09, a decrease of 20% on the 2007-08 figure, latest figures by the Tribunals Service have shown. Multiple claims accepted for 2008-09 fell by 13% on the previous year, but this figure excluded the number of airline employee....