Trade union law specialist Neil Todd of Thompsons Solicitors, on recent sackings of P&O workers
The sacking of 800 workers by P&O showed a shocking disregard for the most basic principles of employment law.
The company’s wholesale failure to engage in any collective consultation, as required under legislation, showed contempt for both the law and industrial relations.
A collective consultation exercise requires engagement on ways of avoiding, reducing and mitigating the consequences of proposed redundancies. This sort of engagement has repeatedly been shown to save jobs and forge new ways of working.
FIRE AND REHIRE
Fire Authorities have attempted to utilise "s188 notices" - a required advance notice of dismissal, often used by employers as part of a "fire and rehire" attack on pay and conditions - to bring about changes to terms and conditions.
It is a step further to contemplate any fire authority ignoring legislative requirements altogether to force through contractual changes.
However, without any legislative change to strengthen the rights of workers, it cannot be ruled out that any employer in this country could act in the unconscionable manner that P&O has done.
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