• Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
Call us now on: 01383 272000
Thornber Employment Law
  • Home
  • Employers
    • Disciplinary & Grievance
    • Harassment & Discrimination
    • Unfair Dismissal
    • Redundancy
    • Performance and Absence Management
    • Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE) Regulations
    • Industrial Action and Strikes
    • Termination Negotiations
    • Settlement Agreements
    • Agency and Atypical Working
    • Pensions
    • Employment Tribunals
    • Fees
  • Individuals
    • Disciplinary & Grievance
    • Harassment & Discrimination
    • Unfair Dismissal
    • Redundancy
    • Employment Tribunals
    • Settlement Agreements
    • Restrictive Covenants
    • Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE) Regulations
    • Fees
  • HR Support
    • Employment Contract & Staff Handbook Drafting
    • Employment Law Training for HR Professionals in Scotland
    • Disciplinary & Grievance
    • Performance and Absence Management
    • Investigations
    • Fees
  • Settlement Agreements
  • Latest News
    • Top Tips
      • How do I deal with short term absence?
      • How do I dismiss an employee?
  • What Clients Say
  • About
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Grangemouth – What Role Employment Law?

November 13, 2013/in latest /by Benjamin Thornber

Grangemouth – What Role Employment Law?

Nearly a month on, I find myself wondering what lessons can be learnt from the whole Grangemouth saga. 

The good news is that at least a significant portion of the jobs will be saved.  Closure would have sent to the grave yet more of our proud industrial heritage. 

Beyond that much has been talked about.  Issues range from botched union tactics, to global capitalism which puts profit above local communities and livelihoods.  There were also wider calls for the need to re-nationalise key assets, and even whether an independent Scotland would have made the situation better or worse.

But what I have not heard about in any of the debate, and what interests me as an employment lawyer, is where does employment law fit into the story?  You would have thought it would play a big part – but does it?

Employment law regulates rules and relationships between employers and employees.  It is based on the principle that the relationship is not an equal one and that employees need a certain element of protection.  In the old days, based on the concept of master and servant, that meant precious little.  In more recent times, there has been much more protection from dismissal and discrimination, on working hours, pay etc.  These are rights which affect workers as individuals.

Employment law also sets out the rules of engagement for workers organised as a group.  It governs the relationship between workers’ representatives – the trades’ unions – and their employers.  Employees have certain protection when they go out on strike, and there are rules about how unions are organised and how they run ballots. 

Some argue that the rise of individual employment rights has undermined the effectiveness of collective action.  This is because the more workers are protected individually, the less protection they need as an organised group.  Perhaps.  Or it could be that there is simply more focus on individual employment rights when collective action is less effective – there are far fewer discrimination claims in European Union countries which have stronger unions, such as Germany or France.

But whatever the balance between collective rights and individual rights in employment law, they only “kick in” when you have a job in the first place.  What they do not do is give you an economic right to a job, a right to earn a living. 

And this brings us back to Grangemouth.  The employees were negotiating from the point of view that they had a job, and could bargain on employment terms.  But if there are no jobs to go to, there is nothing to negotiate.  Employment law as we know it operates where there are jobs: beyond that is politics and global economics. 

Yet that is not to say minimum employment terms and pay should be sacrificed to keep jobs at any cost.  The argument is about the balance between the two.  So maybe our long earned employment law rights have a part to play after all?

Ben Thornber

Related

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://thornberlaw.dns-systems.net/wp-content/uploads/Untitled-design-3-300x105.png 0 0 Benjamin Thornber https://thornberlaw.dns-systems.net/wp-content/uploads/Untitled-design-3-300x105.png Benjamin Thornber2013-11-13 09:55:352021-03-30 16:15:24Grangemouth – What Role Employment Law?

Enquire

Areas of expertise

  • Agency and Atypical Working
  • Ben’s Top Tips for HR matters
    • How do I deal with short term absence?
    • How do I dismiss an employee?
  • Disciplinary & Grievance
  • Employment Contract & Staff Handbook Drafting
  • Employment Law & HR Support Fees
  • Employment Law for Employers & Business
  • Employment Law for Individuals
  • Employment Law Training for HR Professionals in Scotland
  • Employment Tribunals
  • Harassment & Discrimination
  • HR Support
  • Industrial Action and Strikes
  • Investigations
  • Pensions
  • Performance and Absence Management
  • Redundancy
  • Restrictive Covenants
  • Settlement Agreements
  • Termination Negotiations
  • Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE) Regulations
  • Unfair Dismissal

Contact:

01383 27 2000

info@thornberhrlaw.co.uk

© Copyright Thornber Employment Law Ltd

Ben Thornber is a solicitor with a current practising certificate.  He meets the requirements of a being `qualified lawyer’ and `relevant adviser’ for the purposes of advising on settlement agreements.  Any legal and HR advice Ben Thornber provides through Thornber HR Law is covered by a contract of insurance.  However, Thornber Employment Law Ltd (t/a Thornber HR Law) is not a law firm and is not regulated by the Law Society of England and Wales or the Law Society of Scotland

Privacy Policy

Call us on:

Dundee – 01382 339071
Dunfermline – 01383 272000
Edinburgh – 0131 644 3445
Glenrothes – 01592 373991
Grangemouth – 01324 289105
Kirkcaldy – 01592 373991
Livingston – 01506 309771
Perth – 01738 310565
Stirling – 01786 608668

Ben Thornber is a professional and competent employment lawyer. Having worked with Ben for only 3 months, he has quickly gained a grasp of how we work and what our business needs are.

Emma NivenManaging Director, Loch Leven’s Larder

You were highly recommended to us, with regards to our re-draft of our Contract of Employment and Handbook. From the start to the finish you were very helpful, friendly, efficient and professional. We will not hesitate in recommending Thornber HR Law to anyone. Thanks once again for a first class job.

Wendy Turnbull

Ben, many thanks for all your help with our employment contract review. For a change it was really good dealing with a real expert who knows exactly what he is talking about.

David Shuster Managing Director, Managed IT Experts

I can safely say that Ben stands out head and shoulders above anything that even the largest Blue Chip companies can throw at you.

Philip OldhamCEO Lyle and Scott Ltd

The service provided by Ben was exceptional from the initial meeting to completion. I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending and using Ben Thornber HR Law.

Alexander Cruickshank, Director AMC Removals Managing Director, Managed IT Experts
The advice we receive from Thornber HR Law is straight forward, legally sound and commercially viable. Ben is always available and very easy to understand and communicate with.
Tommy BrodieSenior Agent, NFU Mutual Insurance

I would highly recommend Ben and Thornber HR Law as a company for businesses both large and small

Neil AlexanderDirector, Eclipse-IP

The service that you gave was timely, needed and most importantly ensured piece of mind

John Somerville JM Services

Related

Heard the one about the office Christmas party?……..
Scroll to top

This website uses cookies to improve user experience

OKLearn More

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Accept settingsHide notification only