United Kingdom - Unions concerned about announcement of end to two-tier agreement - December 21, 2010

Unions have expressed their concern about the coalition government’s intention to abolish the two-tier employment code in the public sector. The code was agreed with the previous Labour government after long periods of campaigning and lobbying by public sector unions. The aim was to ensure that private contractors supplying services to public authorities would apply the same minimum rates of pay as public sector agreements. Dave Prentis, General Secretary of the UNISON union, characterized the abolishment as another attack on low-paid workers in particular, many of whom are women. UNISON has called on the government to carry out an equality impact assessment as a matter of urgency.

English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/393; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2085

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.