THE Government’s Secretary of State for Transport has applauded the success of Teesside’s port operations.
The Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin visited Teesport yesterday as part of a two-day tour of the region.
Bosses showed him the port’s new steel slab handling operations for SSI UK, which are nearing their two millionth tonne milestone - and a £16.7m infrastructure upgrade to the container terminal.
Mr McLoughlin said: “The port operations are very impressive, and future plans will make it even more competitive.
“It’s been very successful at winning RGF money - it’s an important part of our huge transport infrastructure.
“Particularly with what’s been happening in the last week, the traceability of goods and people being sure of where they come from is very important.”
Chief executive of port owner PD Ports, David Robinson, also outlined the commercial and environmental benefits of Teesport in a “portcentric” distribution approach - where imported goods are sorted at or near their port of entry, cutting handling costs, road miles and emissions.
Mr Robinson said: “Long-term, we got the message across that Teesside is very much open for business and this part of the UK is pushing forward with investment plans.
“This is one of the first ports the Secretary of State has visited in his new role - that’s a big tick in the box for us.”
The visit underlined the importance that Teesport has in the local economy, added Conservative MP for Stockton South James Wharton.
“It wasn’t many years ago we thought we would lose steel manufacturing, now with the investment SSI has made, there’s real reason to be positive about the future.”
Mr McLoughlin also visited Wynyard Park, and the new 840,000 sqft supercentre operated by Clipper.
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
The most significant changes to employment law this year will be made by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill (ERRB). This is currently going through Parliament and so is subject to amendment. The Bill is expected to pass into legislation in April. Its key provisions include:
• Enabling employers to hold “pre-termination negotiations” (otherwise known as “protected conversations”) where the employer can offer termination payments to workers knowing that a Tribunal cannot take them into account when considering a claim for unfair dismissal.
• Renaming Compromise Agreements as Settlement Agreements;
• A requirement to provide information to ACAS before lodging an Employment Tribunal claim form;
• Enabling the Secretary of State to cap unfair dismissal awards;
• Introducing penalties on employers who have breached employment rights where the breach has aggravating factors.
• That a worker making a protected disclosure (whistleblowing) cannot bring a claim for breach of contract unless there is a wider public interest.
• Repeal of Equality Act provisions on third party harassment and discrimination questionnaires.
• Reducing the statutory consultation period for collective redundancies where 100 or more employees are proposed to be made redundant from 90 days to 45 days.
• Giving employment tribunals the power to order an employer to carry out an equal pay audit where there has been an equal pay breach.
• Removing employers’ statutory breach of duty in relation to workplace injuries.
Other key changes:
February 2013
Increase in Compensation Limits from 1 February 2013
• Limit on amount of compensatory award for unfair dismissal – increases from £72,300 to £74,200
• Limit on a week’s pay – increases from £430 to £450
• Limit on guaranteed pay – increases from £23.50 to £24.20.
March 2013
Parental Leave
Increase in unpaid parental leave from 13 weeks to 18 weeks per parent per child from 8 March.
Third Party Harassment
Repeal of the Equality Act 2010 provisions on third party harassment (NB this is a provision of ERRB so implementation date is subject to change).
Questionnaire procedure
Repeal of the questionnaire procedure under the Equality Act 2010 so that workers can no longer submit a Statutory Questionnaire to employers to request further information in a claim for discrimination (NB this is a provision of ERRB so implementation date is subject to change).
.
April 2013
Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure
Amendments include:
• Increased powers for employment Judges to strike out claims which have no reasonable prospects of success;
• Ability of employment Judges to make Deposit Orders in respect of each issue (e.g. unfair dismissal, disability discrimination unlawful deduction from wages) which has little reasonable prospects of success.
• Express provision to encourage parties to settle by way of judicial mediation
• Introducing tighter timetables or oral evidence.
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill provisions
See page 1 and above.
Employee-shareholders
Provisions on employee-ownerships allow employers to offer an employee a contract entitling the employee to shares of a minimum of £2,000 in exchange for losing the right to claim unfair dismissal, request flexible working and statutory redundancy pay.
Public Sector Equality Duty
Report of the government’s review of the public sector duties due to be published.
Personal Injury
Amendments to civil litigation funding and costs (Jackson Reforms) come into force.
Statutory pay and benefits
• Statutory Maternity pay, Paternity pay and Adoption pay increases from £134.45 per week to £136.78 per week.
• Statutory Sick pay increases from £85.85 to £86.70.
• Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) increases from £107.00 per week to £109.08 per week.
Summer 2013
Introduction of fees in Employment Tribunals. The proposed fees are as follows:
Fee Type
Level 1 Claim
Level 2 Claim
Issue fee
£160.00
£250.00
Hearing fee
£230.00
£950.00
Total
£390.00
£1200.00
Level 1 include claims for redundancy pay, unpaid wages, pay in lieu of notice.
Level 2 include claims for unfair dismissal and discrimination.
October 2013
• Abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board
• New National Minimum Wage rates
KEY CASES:
Below are the key cases anticipated for 2013:
Parkwood Leisure Ltd v Alemo Herron – decision from the European Court of Justice expected to be handed down on the 19 February 2013. This case will determine whether or not employers are required to honour pay rises agreed under a collective agreement, where employment has transferred under TUPE to another employer who is not a party to the collective agreement.
Ladele and McFarlane v UK – decision from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) expected to be handed down 15 January 2013. Both these cases are claims for religious discrimination arising out of threatened dismissal and dismissal, respectively, when the employee refused to carry out civil partnership service and refused to counsel same sex couples on grounds of their Christian beliefs.
Eweida and Chaplin v UK ECHR
Both of these cases are claims for religious dismissal arising from the employer’s refusal to allow the employees to wear a cross/crucifix in the workplace. Decision expected to be handed down 15 January 2013.
Devon Primary Care Trust v Readman – Court of Appeal
The court will decide on the test of reasonableness where an employee refuses an offer of suitable alternative employment in a redundancy situation.
Key2Law (Surrey) LLP v De’Antiquis
The Court will decide an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal which held that the fact a company is in administration does not prevent employees transferring under TUPE.
The ETF and IDC welcomed the fact that the European Commission announced its intention not to intervene on cargo-handling and port labour. However, they remain concerned about ongoing demands by shipowners to liberalise port labour and the disproportionate influence that this group has over the views of the Commission.
In addition, they are deeply concerned over attempts at the national level to weaken organised dockers in Spain, Portugal and Greece.
The European Commission is promoting social dialogue at European level and should also encourage national governments to tackle through social dialogue the critical situations that are being experienced in some member states, notably in Portugal and Greece.
For the benefit of the whole sector, the European Commission should ensure that transparency is guaranteed, that social criteria are taken into account, and that workers’ rights are respected in the event of concessions to private operators and investors.
They urge the concerned European and Greek authorities to put an end to the way Cosco’s operations are being carried out in Piraeus, with no respect for fundamental workers’ right and freedom of association. These practices should not be tolerated and it should be ensured that European standards are guaranteed whoever the investor is in all European ports.
The two organisations are determined to defend European ports, which are the most productive in the world, for their members, the community and future generations. They remain united and vigilant, and are ready to both engage with other stakeholders and take action if necessary. They now look forward to initiating the social dialogue process, to which both organisations are committed, where they will work together for the benefit of European dockers.
The two organisations and their members are convinced that through real dialogue with social partners future industrial action can be avoided.
They therefore agreed to meet again this spring to check if any progresses on social dialogue have been made in Portugal, Greece and Spain. In the lack of any tangible progress they will decide if any there is any need to take industrial action to offer international solidarity towards the dockers involved in the above-mentioned conflicts.
They also call upon the EC to undertake an investigation to the potential anti-competitive behavior of shipping lines which are growing in power to the detriment of other port stakeholders.
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