BALFOUR BEATTY TRACKED ON TUPE

RMTnews :: april 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 20 Four RMT members were each awarded 10 weeks pay as compensation recently for the serious breach by Balfour Beatty of its duty to inform and consult with their union representatives. This failure, an employment tribunal said, resulted in “disruption and aggravation” for the four members. The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations require an employer to inform the appropriate representatives of employees who are affected by a planned transfer. This must include informing them that the transfer is to take place, the date or proposed date of the transfer and the reasons for it. The information given by the employer must also be given “long enough” before the transfer in order that the employee representatives can be properly consulted with. But when Balfour Beatty decided to transfer four workers who were operating a piece of machinery on tracks in the Midlands to Fastline (a subsidiary of Jarvis) it allowed just 14 days consultation. REPRESENTATION While the transfer appeared straightforward, involving only four employees who would continue to work on the same tracks as before, it did involve them being relocated to another depot – Eastcroft in Nottingham, where the provision of vehicles that travelled to the location where the four would start their day’s work was a “hot issue”. This, the tribunal said, should BALFOUR BEATTY TRACKED ON TUPE Employment tribunal rules Balfour Beatty broke employment law when it transferred a group of workers out of a depot