date: January 16 2003 embargo: 00:01 hours Friday January 17 2003

Attention: industrial, business, political correspondents

Two 0pages

European Directive is 'a once in a lifetime opportunity to modernise the workplace'

In his first keynote speech as TUC General Secretary Elect, Brendan Barber will say today (Friday) that Europe’s new information and consultation rights can provide 'exactly the right shock to the system' needed to secure a major improvement in productivity by introducing high trust relationships in the workplace.

Speaking to a TUC conference called to discuss the UK’s implementation of the European Information and Consultation Directive, Brendan Barber will say that information and consultation should not be seen as a traditional argument between employer and union lobbies. Instead it should be viewed as an opportunity to spread the high commitment personnel practices that are common in the most successful and productive firms in the UK and abroad.

Brendan Barber will challenge employer organisations to work with government and unions to introduce effective ways of implementing European requirements. In return he says that unions will be flexible and look to ways of using information and consultation structures to streamline employment law.

Brendan Barber will say: 'My challenge today is this. I put it to both government and employers. Information and consultation is not a burden on business. This is not red tape, part of the class war, or a return to adversarial trade unionism.

'Instead it could be a crucial ingredient in giving UK business a shot in the arm. Work with us to make it a reality. Don’t try to make its impact as small as possible. If it will do good, let us see it make the maximum difference.

'In return let me make this clear. We are determined in our objectives for information and consultation. But we recognise there is no off-the-shelf blueprint that works for everyone. As long as UK law genuinely seeks real information and consultation as it implements EU law, then we wish to be flexible.

'Where independent unions already provide a voice for employees, we see no need for extra bodies. And rather than a burden on business let us see how we can use information and consultation to streamline employment law. It is clear that information and consultation must be permanent and continuing. So let us say that the permanent arrangements can take over the various ad hoc requirements to consult that already exist in law, such as over redundancies.

'As long as certain minimum standards apply, let employers and elected representatives of the workforce sort out what works best for them through negotiation, rather than provide a legal straitjacket. The objective must be to secure real consultation in advance of important decisions being taken with a genuine desire to reach agreement.'

Brendan Barber will conclude by saying that: 'If information and consultation can give us the same high performance workplaces that our competitors already enjoy, it will be a great prize. A prize for the government that introduces such a powerful boost to the economy, a prize for the companies that start to do better and a prize for their employees, liberated - many for the first time - to make a full contribution. Prizes in fact all round. Let us embrace this once in a life time chance to modernise the workplace.'

To coincide with the conference at Congress House today - at which Minister for Employment Relations, Alan Johnson MP is the key speaker - the TUC is also releasing its submission to the government’s consultation exercise on the Directive. ‘High performance workplaces’ says that the government should encourage smaller firms which are not covered by the Directive to embrace the new consultative climate. Most claims that end up in employment tribunals come from small firms, where there are few trade unions. If workers in small companies were given a voice, the TUC believes that individual disputes would be much more likely to be resolved within the workplace. You can find the full text of the TUC’s submission at www.tuc.org.uk/law/tuc-5866-f0.cfm

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Press release (800 words) issued 17 Jan 2003