Mark Prisk, the Business Minister at a meeting with the Federation of Small Businesses in Liverpool yesterday, made the announcement that there will be a thorough review of the effect of regulations on small businesses.
Whilst it is to be welcomed that measures are being looked at to aid business recovery in the UK, there is a danger that the rights of individual workers will be seriously eroded. It is worth noting that SMEs account for the employment of approximately 51% of all employed workers in the UK. Measures which take rights away for employees will, therefore, affect the majority of the working population.
An exemption from having to give workers the right to request time off for training is one thing, but if there are reductions in the more basic employment rights, such as changing the right to claim unfair dismissal so that a qualifying employee must have 2 years' continuous service, the progress that has been made over many years in protecting employees could be reversed.
Employment rights have been established for good reasons. There has to be a balance between the right of free enterprise on the one hand and the right of individuals to have some form of security of job tenure and freedom from oppression.
Some say that the scales have tipped too far in favour of workers. Others argue that the law should remain as it is and that it is for employers to learn to act reasonably, fairly and without discrimination when managing their staff.
In times when there is a scarcity of national funding to inject into UK businesses to aid recovery, is this simply a case of the Government wanting to be seen to be doing something to assist SMEs and playing with legal restrictions as some kind of token gesture at the expense of employee rights in the longer term?
No comments:
Post a Comment