Clause 31 - Non-completion of statutory procedure: adjustment of awards
Employment Bill
10:30 am
Mr Alan Johnson (Minister of State (Employment and the Regions), Department of Trade and Industry; Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)
Simply, if, for example, a grievance had been taken up by a trade union and represented collectively-whatever that grievance might be-it would be unfair on employers to expect each individual to go through the grievance procedure when the matter was being dealt with collectively with the employees. We do not want to duplicate the process and force employers to go through a procedure several times when the issue is collective.
A balance needs to be struck. We are determined to get it right, and we will consult on the regulations. I recognise that these are important issues, but I hope that I have given some flavour of what we expect from the provision to which amendment No. 54 refers.
Are we also debating amendment No. 55?