Tribunals increase show employers failing to give workers rights

Responding to figures released yesterday by the Employment Tribunals Service (Tuesday) that show a 17% increase in tribunal applications, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

The increase in tribunal applications for well-established work rights shows that employers are still failing to respect their employees and the law. The rise in multiple claims against a single employer shows a need for a change in the law to allow trade unions to bring a single case against an employer on behalf of a large group of members.

The TUC is concerned that the government is attempting to reduce the number of tribunals through complicated reforms to the system that come into force later this year. The changes will make it extremely difficult for employees without union support or legal advice to bring even the strongest of claims.

TUC research shows that trade unions are bucking the overall trend by successfully reducing the number of tribunals they bring using their dispute resolution skills and collective bargaining position to solve more problems within the workplace

Findings from TUC Focus on Employment Tribunals (May 2004)
Workers, when represented by a trade union, are more likely to settle their claim within the workplace without making a tribunal application. However, where claims do end up in a tribunal, union members are more likely to win their claim and to receive higher compensation than non-union members.

Unfair dismissal claims are the largest category of union-backed applications, four times higher than any other type of claim (40%). Unfair dismissal awards won by trade unions rose by nearly 300% last year and were over three times higher than the average in a non-union backed unfair dismissal case.

Nine out of ten (88%) unions only submitted cases on a lawyer’s recommendation and unions reported that 91 per cent of cases were won or settled. Three out of four union-backed cases that went to tribunal were won.