The Great Debate UK
Peter Harwood: the man in the middle
Your business is Peter Harwood’s business — at least it becomes his business if you seek the help of employment relations service Acas to help mediate a collective conflict in your workplace.
As chief conciliator at the Advisory, Concilation and Arbitration Service, Harwood has mediated hundreds of employment tribunal cases over the past 20 years, including recent high-profile disputes between British Airways and Unite union; Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union; Network Rail and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers; oil company Total and Unite.
Media coverage may give the impression that strike action increased in Britain during the recent economic downturn, but — in keeping with patterns during periods of recession — it has dropped, a new Acas policy discussion paper reports. The pattern of industrial action is similar to the one that emerged in the recession of the 1990s, it suggests.
“Stoppages fell to 121 in the year to June 2009 from 155 in the same period in the previous non-recessionary year,” writes Sarah Podro, the author of the study. “Working days lost fell dramatically from 933, 000 to 598,000.”
