Manufacturers hit out at legislative burden

MIDLANDS manufacturers have been urged to ‘name and shame’ the worst aspects of employment legislation in an attempt to force the Government to carry out amendments.

The manufacturing lobby group EEF said the legislative burden was placing an intolerable strain on the manufacturing industry just when it needed to focus on achieving growth.

The move comes as new legislation covering the Agency Workers Directive is introduced onto the statute books.

The EEF said there was a lot the government could achieve in the coming months in resisting new regulation from Europe and in modifying its own plans for new regulation.

The EEF estimates the AWD has increased the cost of employing agency workers by approximately 20% to one third.    
 
It has welcomed the government’s One-In One-Out approach to regulation but it is now looking for this to deliver tangible gains to business and supporting flagging growth in the economy.  

It said this meant taking some hard political decisions at home while, at the same time, showing leadership at EU level.
 
EEF said it believed this must start by government blocking proposed changes at EU level to rules on Working Time and Pregnant Workers, the latter of which is expected to add £2.5bn to costs for business. In the UK, it said it had to rethink some of its own proposals such as Equal Pay Audits and fines on employers who lose Employment Tribunals  
 
Richard Halstead, EEF Midlands region director, said: “Industry has supported the government’s approach to reducing regulation but now needs to see it delivering results. Achieving culture change in Whitehall and Brussels is not easy but with growth flagging, we simply cannot wait for long-term results.
 
“Having just seen the Agency Workers Directive impose a significant increase costs, industry will be alarmed at a range of other potential measures in the pipeline from Europe and from our own government. This is precisely the time we need to be encouraging job creation as part of the growth agenda and adding yet more costs is only going to make this more difficult.
 
“In the coming months industry will be looking for hard evidence that the government is blocking new regulation from Brussels and is taking steps to reduce regulation at home.”
 
Katja Hall, the CBI’s chief policy director, agreed with much of what the EEF had to say.

“There couldn’t be a worse time to bring in this unwelcome Brussels Directive,” she said.

“A hard-won 12-week qualification period for each temp to be in a firm before the rules are applied should help control costs and minimise administrative burdens. But the new rules will still act as a brake on jobs. The Government must take the first opportunity to remove unnecessary gold-plating or reform the directive.”

On the removal of the Default Retirement Age, she said: “In the absence of a default retirement age, the Government must act now to spell out how employers can have a protected conversation about employees’ retirement plans without fear of tribunals.

“The Government has dithered too long on this issue. The DRA was valued as it helped employers to plan ahead and manage changes to the workforce. We urgently need an effective new framework for retirement planning.”