vary a contract of employment

[miliitant]

i am employed by a national company with a very high staff ratio. i am a union branch official on full time release to carry out my area trade union duties

now i have been fighting for the last 18 months my employer as they want end of me stating ill health retirment due to my ailment. (having a old style 40 hour contract and being a pain in the gluteus maximus also no doubt) that is no problem as i have it confirmed i am covered under the equalities act so that is not the issue. me having a diploma in employment law is an advantage also

this campaign against me has been sustained for the last three months with vigour and i have just found out why for the following reasons

all full time staff that have left the business during the last three years have not been replaced with full time staff

they have been replaced by fixed term contracts,the norm has been to get rid of them prior to the end of 12 weeks and then re-employ them again negating the agency workers directive

some staff on the early temporary contracts are still with us and are approaching the two year service mark.

we have a national agreement that states any temporary staff who have two years continious service have to be made up to full time status

the business has just sent these people new contracts of employment to sign alltering their termination date from april next year to october this year.

this will mean the staff are just under the two year service mark and the business will just get rid of them rather than take them on full time contracts.

no union involvement at local level
no individual consultation
unilateral change of a contract of employment
just relying on peoples ignorance on employment law

these staff members are in my home office but i think they are seeing if they can get it past me first before going area wide with this policy

so they think they can just alter a contract of employment mid term to get rid of more staff do they

think again

if staff are offered a package to leave then i have no complaints, but a sledge hammer approach, they will have me to deal with

comments please people

[Guest]

Re: vary a contract of employment

Breach of contract here
Minor, material, fundamental or anticipatory?

Minor? - no, it's not minor!
Material? - yes, "permits the other party to the contract to either compel performance, or collect damages because of the breach"
Fundamental? - yes, "permits the aggrieved party to terminate performance of the contract. In addition that party is entitled to sue for damages"
Anticipatory? - not quite, although it could turn that way, later, possibly ("is an unequivocal indication that the party will not perform when performance is due, or a situation in which future non-performance is inevitable)

It sounds like you need to get people together, use LawWorks or something, and compel performance at your branch, to stop this virus spreading.

[bluebottle]

Re: vary a contract of employment

Sounds like my previous employers who employed a Rent-A-Bully HR professional who knows absolutely nothing about case or statute law. Oh boy, am I going to have a field day with them as although the ET option is long gone, the civil litigation route is still wide open and it is likely to come as an awful shock to them when they realise this Rent-A-Bully has dropped them in it good and proper.

The attempt to stop trade union involvement is, in my considered judgement, contrary to the Human Rights Act. Does the employer intend to offer compensating pay to redress this or provide access to a Works Council? If not, I would have serious doubts as to the legality of any contract containing such terms. However, that is my personal opinion.

[miliitant]

Re: vary a contract of employment

The attempt to stop trade union involvement is, in my considered judgement, contrary to the Human Rights Act.

it is contrary to the IR FRAMEWORK and the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992 to start with, let alone the ACAS code of practice

i am typing up a stage 1 disagreement as we speak

[Guest]

Re: vary a contract of employment

Re 'negating the agency workers directive'
Although I am unfamiliar with it, ignoring it and negating it are 2 different things.
(negating means blasting it out of the water - sadly one cannot do this, lol)

Re #2, sorry, not LawWorks - presumably the union has its own legal resources/insurance.

Since worker contracts are individual, I imagine that you would need to ask each individual what he or she wanted.

Have to go eat, see client - good luck.

[miliitant]

Re: vary a contract of employment

what they have been doing is recruiting people on 12 week contracts then letting them go, a week later re-employ them on another 12 week contract

under the agency worker directive, if you have completed 12 weeks service, you are entitled to the same levels of pay and conditions as regular contracted staff

that process negates the agency workers directive
you cannot ignore as it is a directive but you can get around it

but the staff i am talking about have been employed for a while on fixed term rolling contracts and the issue is ending them before the two year mark

lets not confuse the issue

[miliitant]

Re: vary a contract of employment

i am more than capable of dealing with this christian

the point of me raising this thread is on the uncaring practice of employers now
they do not see staff as an assett anymore (job for life)
just a commodity and to bypass statute legislation with impunity

[Guest]

Re: vary a contract of employment

Just the THREAT of action would FORCE Mr U-Turns to consider.
Then, if they admit they CAN'T do it, you do mediation.

(and, yes -there are 2 issues)

If you just want me to say the employers are "uncaring" - I can't.
I don't know that.

[Guest]

Re: vary a contract of employment

UCTA
Unfair term of contract of employment = implied term that employees can't see how much money WE are collectively making.
This takes away their bargaining power12-week contracts should attract higher rates, but these can't be negotiated without full information.