Things revving up on AWR as BMW faces threat of action

Dec. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- The Unite union’s warning to BMW that it will face industrial action if it does not rethink its strategies of closing its pension scheme to new starters and using the Swedish Derogation to avoid increasing the pay of its temporary staff after 12 weeks, has led the ARC to question whether this is the beginning of more politically entrenched positions with respect to the AWR.

Unite refers to the Swedish Derogation as a ‘legal loophole’ despite it being expressly included in both the original EU directive and the UK’s consequent implementation of it. Although the pay between assignments model is not without its flaws, the ARC fears that the attitude of the unions may be detrimental to the recruitment industry. If hirers are not permitted to take advantage of the Swedish Derogation, they may be deterred altogether from using temporary workers.

Ben Grover, the ARC’s External Policy Adviser said “the unions, who signed up to the regulations, had the opportunity to raise their concerns not only during their negotiations with the CBI that led to their May 2008 agreement, but also during the consultation process that preceded the implementation of the regulations. Such rhetoric and posturing, given that Unite signed up to the AWR, is unhelpful.”

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