Getting started

As soon as reasonably practicable after receiving a valid employee request, or after notifying employees of its intentions, the employer must put negotiating representatives in place and start the ball rolling (regulation 14(1)). Failure to make a start in this way can land an employer at the CAC, as Wincanton Container Logistics found in 2011 (see page 34). The employer must:

• make arrangements, satisfying the requirements in the regulations, for the employees of the undertaking to elect or appoint negotiating representatives;

• inform the employees in writing of the identity of the negotiating reps once they have been chosen; and then

• invite the negotiating reps to enter into negotiations to reach a negotiated agreement.