- Conference
- 2015 Water, Environment & Transport Service Group
- Date
- 25 May 2015
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the Passenger Transport Forum (PTF) replaced the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) with effect from 1st August 2005. The purpose of the consultative element of the PTF is to provide a joint Employer/Trade Union Forum committed to partnership working in order to consider the Human Resources implication of public transport issues, while the negotiating element is committed to partnership working in order to nationally negotiate sustainable and realistic Terms and Conditions of Employment.
When the PTF replaced the JNC the following PTEs were members of the negotiating element:-
Tyne and Wear
West Yorkshire (now the West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
South Yorkshire
West Midland
Greater Manchester (now Transport for Greater Manchester)
Tyne and Wear and South Yorkshire served notice and pulled out of the negotiating element some years later, leaving just 3 PTEs as members of the negotiating element of the PTF. One of the employers (TfGM) has imposed a pay award outside of the agreed pay bargaining procedure and all three have indicated that their involvement in the forum is under review.
Conference we believe:
• That national bargaining represents a stable and fair arrangement for both employers and employees and guards against a race to the bottom over terms and conditions of employment.
• That national bargaining has an important role to play in increasing the number of employees covered by collective bargaining arrangements and tackling income inequality across sectors.
• That membership of National Bargaining bodies, of whatever size, provides long-term security and stability for members’ terms and conditions which would be more vulnerable outside of such arrangements.
• That as well as being fairer, national bargaining is a more cost-effective way of supporting members with pay negotiations and other negotiations over terms and conditions than local bargaining.
Conference further believes:
• That any attempts by employers involved in national bargaining to withdraw from national bargaining bodies should be resisted.
• That campaigning to resist withdrawal from national bargaining is an opportunity to organise and recruit around protecting terms and conditions.
• That staff time spent on organising, recruiting and campaigning to defend national bargaining is an investment as local bargaining requires more support per branch.
Conference calls upon the WET SGE and other influencing bodies to:-
• Work with and support any branch who’s employers has threatened with withdraw from national bargaining, by providing the necessary resources to organise and campaign to resist withdrawal from national bargaining.
Work with those branches not covered by national bargaining arrangements but who would benefit from it should be supported as above to join an appropriate national bargaining body.