Boardroom: Scene for more talks?

Unions and bosses have clashed over new rules on involving workers in company decisions.

The EU's Information and Consultation Directive took effect on Wednesday but the TUC and CBI have widely differing interpretations over how it will affect industrial relations.

The directive means that organisations employing more than 150 people will now have to conduct official communications between managers and staff if 10 per cent or more of their workers demand it.

The CBI said it would have little meaningful impact as most firms are already involving staff.

"These new rules will be irrelevant to most companies because they already have systems that employees are happy with for discussing developments with them," director general Sir Digby Jones said.

"Few employers have to be told it's good business practice to make sure staff know what's going on and they don't need legislation to make them do it.

"The rules rightly avoid imposing costly, one-size-fits-all structures on companies when they are not wanted.

"They only kick-in if negotiations on how employees should be involved in the business fail. In reality it will rarely come to that.

"And they won't allow a vociferous minority of employees to upset existing arrangements or hand new power to unions when that isn't supported by the bulk of the workforce."

Union view

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber agreed that good employers are already talking to staff.

But he said workers would benefit from managers being prevented from dropping "bolts from the blue".

"These new changes from Europe mean that employees now have a right to be told what's going on and a right to be heard," he said.

"It should put a stop to the bolts from the blue where in the past staff heard their jobs were to be axed via text messages or by listening to the local radio.

"Well-run, successful companies have been informing and consulting with their employees for years.

"Sensible employers know only too well the competitive edge that comes from helping staff feel more valued and involved in the running of their firm or organisation. Only bad managers who insist on keeping their staff in the dark have anything to fear."

Shopfloor

And the two leaders disagreed over whether the new rules offered a new opportunity for unions to organise on the shopfloor.

"I sincerely hope that unions don't think they can play the old game of using well intentioned legislation to grab more power, to the detriment of efficient businesses," Sir Digby said.

But Barber argued: "Information and consultation provides unions with a golden opportunity to increase their presence in workplaces, particularly those where there are union members but where the boss has until now been refusing to engage collectively with staff."