To further encourage collective bargaining, the unions will have wide access to the workplace to educate its members about employment issues and to recruit new members. Employees who are union members must be given two hours' paid leave to attend union meetings twice a year. New employees deemed to be covered by collective agreement for first 30 days of employment Personal Grievances Personal grievance provisions will remain substantially the same. Employees no longer have the option of taking a wrongful dismissal action to the Employment Court. The biggest change is that reinstatement will become the preferred remedy.
Employees can seek an interim order for reinstatement pending the personal grievance hearing.
The new bill replaces the with an 'Employment Relations Authority' in the Employment Tribunal. The Authority will continue to function as the Tribunal did, except that the mediation service will be a separate institution. Parties can still be represented by solicitors in the Authority, or appear on their own behalf. In doing so the Authority must promote good faith behaviour. The Authority will not be the first port of call in the event of a dispute.