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Trade union safety reps are being sidelined on sickness absence issues, with the resulting policies frequently controlled by management and punitive, a survey has found. Researchers from Bradford University's School of Management questioned hundreds of UNISON safety reps and found employers 'appeared to categorise absence management as separate to the health and safety function and, as a result, attempted to exclude union safety reps and maintain control of absence arrangements.'
The preliminary analysis of the survey, based on responses from 834 safety reps, found the focus of many absence agreements was reactive, 'punishing individuals following a spell of absence as opposed to identifying and remedying the causes of absence or rewarding good attendance.' It report adds in the public sector 'management perceptions of a workforce conspiring to abuse absence provisions had resulted in punitive sanctions, a lack of sympathy and discretion and genuinely ill employees being penalised.'
It concludes trade union safety reps 'must forge a systematic link between absence and health and safety,' but adds safety representatives themselves were not always properly familiar with absence agreements or their legal entitlements in respect of absence. 'This has implications for UNISON in terms of training and support for their safety reps', the report said.
Source: UNISON
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