GMB@ASDA

NEWSLETTER
'Shares for rights' given approval

April

2013

The House of Lords has now approved the shares for rights clause in the Governments Growth and Infrastructure Bill, after previously rejecting it twice. The amended proposal was passed by 275 votes to 168, preventing a return to the House of Commons as part of the ping-pong legislative process and confirming the Employee Shareholder contract will pass into law. The decision to do so has been criticised by employment law commentators, despite the inclusion of a number of concessions. It has been subject to fierce parliamentary debate in recent weeks, but following the addition of a further concession in addition to those already offered by the Government, the Lords have now approved the Bill and it now awaits Royal Assent. Prior to approving the Bill, the Lords heard that the Government was offering the following concessions:

a seven day cooling off period for employees who agreed to the scheme; a requirement that employers must provide a written statement with full details about the shares and the rights they carry; assurance that jobseekers who refuse the offer would not forfeit social security benefits; the first 2,000 of shares being tax free; and protection for existing employees who choose not to adopt the scheme.

Although these concessions were not deemed enough for the Lords, it has approved the Bill with the clause included after the addition of a concession that would allow employees agreeing to the scheme to access independent legal advice on how the scheme works, paid for by their employer. Commenting on the decision, Tom Flanagan, Head of employment law at Irwin Mitchell, described it as a worrying step that is unlikely to find favour with either workers or employers. He added: "The 'ping pong' process that this legislation has been through highlights the divisive and troublesome nature of the key measures in this Bill. However, the fact it has been passed by the House of Lords may now set a dangerous precedent. "It seems evident that there is a drive to establish a principle that universal statutory employment rights are able to be eroded in this way. The whole scheme is likely to create a complex web of shareholder arrangements and tax provisions so that smaller businesses, the prime target for this initiative, are unlikely to want to become involved because of an ironic increase in red tape and cost, which is, with further irony, likely to be greater because of the concessions which permitted the Lords to finally agree to the Bill's passage." He continued: "The final concession of requiring independent legal advice is also likely to lead to many employees being advised that it is not in their interests to agree to the offer, while creating the possible involvement of numerous law firms or a stronger trade union presence in the day to day interaction between an employer and its employees. "This initiative has all the hallmarks of creating unintended consequences, largely, I fear, through having been ill thought out to begin with." Employee Ownership Association Chief Executive, Iain Hasdell, commented: "The decision to allow Clause 27 of the Growth Bill, in which worker rights on such matters as redundancy and unfair dismissal have to be sacrificed by employees in order for them to be allowed an ownership stake in the business in which they work, is hugely disappointing. "There is absolutely no need to dilute the rights of workers in order to grow employee ownership and no data to suggest that doing so would significantly boost employee ownership. All of the evidence is that employee ownership in the UK is growing and the businesses concerned thriving because they enhance not dilute the working conditions and entitlements of the workforce. He concluded: "The Employee Ownership Association and our membership will continue to support and promote the uptake of genuine employee ownership which, thankfully, is a thriving and growing part of the economy."
www.workplacelaw.net

Welcome to Asda store without any customers

Stepping into the new Asda Home Shopping Centre in Bulwell, the first thing you notice is the size of the cavernous building. At 12 acres, or 120,000sq ft, the centre, which is Asda's third online order depot, is larger than eight football pitches.
Inside there are almost 600 staff known as pickers and loaders, whose job it is to select the items for the online orders from the supermarket and make sure they are loaded into the correct delivery vans. In essence, it is a gigantic supermarket, without the customers. The aisles are laid out in the same way as in any other Asda, apart from the freezer and fridge sections which are huge rooms instead of individual cabinets, and the shoppers are replaced with Asda staff who sort out the online orders and pack them for their destination. General store manager Richard Jackson, previously in charge of Asda West Bridgford, said the boom in the online shopping Industry was the reason for the store. He said: "This is Asda's third home shopping centre nationally and, as you can see from the size of it, we are responding to a huge rise in demand. "We have given almost 600 local people, of which half had been long-term unemployed, a fresh start and a new job working here. "It is a very impressive operation and one which we are constantly developing and improving." The store produces everything which an open to the public Asda would produce, right down to the daily freshly baked bread, pizzas and cakes on site. There is a separate fishmonger too. Mr Jackson added that they were easing the new workers into their jobs by not using the full capacity of the facility just yet. He said: "We are keeping the volume of orders down for the time being because most of the staff are all quite new. So we're dealing with around 1,000 orders a day, which people can place online up until 11pm at night and the order will be with them at 6am the next morning. "We're very different to a normal supermarket because we start picking from the shelves at 4am and by 2pm, when a s upermarket would be very busy, we are very quiet because all the orders are being packed and transported." Running throughout the huge site is a conveyer belt which the pickers put their boxes of food and other items on to. These are then moved over to the packing area and distributed to the right van depending on the geography of the destination. The centre serves as far as the Peak District, Stoke and Grantham. Mr Jackson added: "The beauty of online shopping is that people can pick whatever combinations they want and will get them the next day. We see patterns like mums ordering school clothes late at night, which will be with them by 6am, perhaps because their child ripped their trousers or something and they need a new pair for school. "We have had a few people turn up and ask where the trollies are but we just explain we're not open to the public. They seem to be getting the gist now."
www.thisisnottingham.co.uk

Fit note system updated to help staff back into employment

Staff off work due to sickness will receive better support on getting back in employment through new fit note guidance issued by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The guidance advises doctors on how they can give the best advice about what patients can do at work and how they can return to the workplace as quickly as possible, with potential advice being how staff could explore a period of home working or flexible working. Based on research and feedback from patients, GPs and employers, the guidance is designed to help people use the fit note to its full potential by looking at what a person can do, rather than what they cannot do. From this, employers and patients can then use the fit note to look at what can be done to help an individual back into work. Under the new system, the fit note is linked to someone's general fitness for work and is not tied to their most recent job, which the DWP says allows for flexibility to discuss what changes could help someone to do work. The new fit note system replaces the original sick note that was launched three years ago, with the fundamental change of the new note being that it considers what work someone might be able to do when their condition is taken into account, as opposed to what they can't do under the previous system. Bill Gunnyeon, Chief Medical Adviser for the DWP, said: "The fit note can be valuable in helping people return to work quickly and avoid long term absence and potential job loss this revised guidance helps doctors, employers and patients use it to its full potential." www.workplacelaw.net

Richard fantastic photo ofto waxwing feeding berries in day Hulldelivery Asda car Asdaon plans same Telecoms firms ordered pay service 100,000 National Minimum park The company intends to trial the Wage arrears
Two telecommunication companies have been ordered to pay wage arrears of almost 100,000 to 197 of their call centre telesales workers. The companies claimed that the employees were apprentices but an employment tribunal ruled that they were entitled to a higher rate of National Minimum Wage (NMW). Axis Telecom Ltd was ordered to repay 21,224.53 in arrears to 14 workers, and Servizon Ltd was ordered to repay arrears of 75,117.28 to 183 workers. In addition, a penalty of 5,000 per company was also imposed. Notices of underpayment were issued by HMRC on behalf of workers previously employed by Axis Telecom Ltd and Servizon Ltd as call centre telesales operators. HMRC successfully argued at the employment tribunal that the workers were not employed under contracts of apprenticeship and were entitled to be paid a higher rate of National Minimum Wage. Michelle Wyer, Assistant Director of National Minimum Wage, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), said: We are pleased the Employment Tribunal has given this ruling in support of the workers who were being underpaid. Our aim is to enforce the law and protect vulnerable workers. Employers are welcome to approach us at any time for advice through the Pay and Work Rights Helpline 0800 917 2368, or contact us at any stage during an enquiry to discuss resolution of outstanding issues. A ruling was given on 26 March 2013 following an employment tribunal hearing in Hull.
www.rnn.cabinetoffice.gov.uk

same day service from next month, with customers able to collect their order from stores.

Asda will be the first of the UKs major supermarket retailers to offer such a service and the development highlights the growing importance of online retailing to the food industry. Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke last week announced that the retailer was writing down the value of land earmarked for future stores by 804m because it wants to focus investment on its convenience stores and digital business, instead of traditional supermarkets. Asda, Britains second largest food retailer behind Tesco, also intends to roll out a click and collect service across its UK stores. Customers will be able to collect non-food and George clothing products from all 568 stores, while the number of Asda sites offering a click and collect service for food shopping will double to almost 200 in 2013. The retailer is developing stand alone collection points at Asda petrol stations, a Reading business park and a park and ride facility in Nottingham. Last week, it opened a drive through click and collect facility in York that allows customers to collect food and non food orders by scanning their mobile phone and waiting for a customer assistant to load their shopping into the car. Andy Clarke, Asda chief executive, said: Click and collect has gone from nowhere to somewhere very quickly. Mr Clarke said: This year there will be more invested in digital than previous years, but we are still committed to opening stores. Asda did not disclose how the 700m of investment is being split between new stores and digital projects, but more than half is still thought to be for opening new sites. Stores will continue to be important, Mr Clarke said. But I think the shape of stores will change dramatically over the next 10 years.
www.telegraph.co.uk

Employment minister Jo Swinson urged interns who felt they were being exploited to call a hotline: "The law on the National Minimum Wage is clear. If somebody on a work experience placement or internship is a worker under NMW legislation, then they are entitled to the minimum wage." "Internships can be a valuable way of helping young people get into work and realise their ambitions," she said. "Anyone who feels they are being exploited should contact the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368."

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GMB@ ASDA Newsletter

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