TUC warns of new Con Dem attack on employment protection‏

Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary, has condemned proposed changes to individual employment rights including restricting access to Employment Tribunals: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5f9eb8f8-1c20-11e0-9b56-00144feab49a.html?

Big business backers of the Conservative Party are lobbying hard for the qualifying period for access to Employment Tribunals to be extended from one to two years continuous employment. The FT reports that business groups have been also lobbying hard for other changes, 'including introducing a fee of anything from £30 to £500 to lodge a claim’.

Brendan Barber said: “While employer groups complain that tribunals are costing them too much, they seem to have lost sight of the fact that if firms treated their staff as they are meant to, few would ever find themselves taken to court. Instead of a focus on the employment tribunal process, ministers' time would be better spent looking at why so many companies, especially small employers, have such poor employment practices.”

No doubt the new wave of attacks on workers rights will be on the agenda when Con Dem Prime Minister Cameron hosts a meeting of the bosses of the UK’s biggest firms today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12148834