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The Tory Party has made it clear, and prior to the election in 2010, that it hates trade unions and in particular David Cameron has endlessly attacked health and safety protection at work as being the ‘biggest burden’ on business.
There is no doubting that his next move will be to remove the rights of union safety reps to investigate accidents, attend training, and attend health and safety committees with paid time off. The TUC, supported by the CWU and all other affiliated Trade Unions is organising a Day of Action to defend health and safety. This will be held on 28 April 2012, which is International Workers Memorial Day when we traditionally remember the dead and fight for the living. Join any events in your area on that day and demonstrate that we will not give up our right to a safe workplace. The issues involved are discussed here in a section from CWU LTB238/12 issued by Dave Joyce, CWU National Health, Safety and Environment Officer: The recent Löfstedt report into health and safety was very positive about health and safety representatives and the benefits of involving the workforce, however, the government has done nothing to support union representatives. Quite the opposite. Since coming to power in 2010 the government has cut the amount of money they give the HSE by 35% over the next three years, while local councils have seen a 28% cut. This will cut the number of inspectors that will be available to visit workplaces. They have also told the HSE and local authorities to stop 'proactively' inspecting most types of workplaces. Instead they will only be able to inspect after a reported injury or a complaint. This will change the role of Union health and safety representatives as they will have to act much more as the diligently as the eyes and ears in workplaces to ensure that any problems are reported.
The cuts have also made it more difficult to get information. For many years the HSE ran a free information line that employers and health and safety representatives could call for free information or advice. Every year it was called by over 200,000 people, including many health and safety representatives. The HSE Info-Line was closed down last year. That is not all the government is doing to make it more difficult for health and safety representatives to support their members. In the public sector all employers have been asked to review 'facilities time' which is the amount of time that union representatives are allowed off to do their union work. This includes health and safety representatives. The government has said that only the very minimum legal entitlement should be agreed to. Some activities such as campaigning on safety issues, attending union meetings or supporting safety representatives in other workplaces may be considered to be above the minimum and representatives will be told to do them in their own time or to take unpaid leave.
They are proposing to charge £200 to lodge an employment tribunal (ET) claim and £1000 for a hearing at an employment tribunal. They have given another option of an upfront fee of £500 to access the Tribunal that can rise to £1,750 if the employee is claiming more than £30,000 in compensation. These charges will even apply to a worker claiming victimisation for activities they carried out as a union health and safety representative or raising health and safety as an issue. However, it is not only dismissal and victimisation claims that will be affected. The only way that a health and safety representative can seek to challenge a refusal by their employer to give them time off for training is by taking a case to an employment tribunal. If the government gets its way it means that a health and safety representative will now be charged for trying to get the training they need to help their fellow workers. Workers Memorial Day 28 April 2012 Source: CWU / TUC See also: USR Paid Facility Time Under Attack As Cameron Vows To Abolish It and Urgent Bulletin Issued About April Health And Safety Campaign Day Of Action |
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Health and safety representatives cannot do the job of HSE and local authority inspectors, but in future they will be the only people who are independent of the employer that will be ever be seen in most workplaces. Therefore it will become even more important that they do regular inspections and make sure that any issues identified are dealt with. If not then they will need to report them to the HSE or local authority. That is now much more difficult as the phone numbers of local offices have been removed from the HSE's website!