Government investigates facility time for workplace representatives

The TUC has welcomed the news that the government is reviewing the support and time off available to workplace reps.

The DTI has issued a consultation document, Workplace representatives: a review of their facilities and facility time, seeking views on whether reps have sufficient access to facilities and facility time to carry out their functions efficiently and effectively in the light of the modern-day demands on them.

The review stems from the Warwick Agreement - the deal reached between union leaders and ministers in 2004 - which said the government should recognise the value of facility time for workplace union reps and open up discussions with unions.

The consultation document quantifies the benefits that reps provide to workplaces and society at large and identifies clear benefits worth between £476 million and £1.1 billion, without taking account of increased productivity.

While acknowledging the value of reps, the DTI is at pains to include non-union reps in the praise.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber noted that in most workplaces with unions, employers were supportive of union reps but that "a minority of employers offer the union reps in their workplace no support at all.

"This review is going to be welcomed by all those union reps ... who currently end up doing much of their union work in their own time."

For more information, see "How much is a union rep worth?" elsewhere in this issue.