News

Unite has rubbished calls from The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) for a reduction in red tape on training, saying it was "talking nonsense".

Unite rebutted the FSB after it criticised regulations surrounding the ‘time to train’ initiative that require formal meetings to be held with employees who request time off to train. The FSB wants to keep these meetings informal, saying this will make it easier to identify training needs.

The business organisation has called for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills to create an exemption that would allow businesses with fewer than 20 employees to hold ‘one-on-one’ informal meetings without the need for union representation.

Colin Willman, education and skills chairman at FSB, said: There are a higher percentage of under-skilled employees working within smaller businesses compared with bigger firms.

The ‘time to train’ process is too expensive and too bureaucratic and the FSB is concerned that the employee’s right to request a meeting to discuss time off to train will not only lead to an extra layer of bureaucracy, but will also lead to panic among small businesses that a refusal could be interpreted as constructive dismissal.

However, Tony Burke, Unite assistant general secretary, said that the regulations are in place for a reason and union involvement is vital. He added: The FSB is talking nonsense. Employees in small business are as entitled to support from their union as those working for large companies.

We are disappointed with this response, but not surprised. The Unite-BPIF partnership at work agreement covers a large number of SMEs and we have excellent working relationships with these companies. Unite will always support workers that seek time off for training.

Philip Bailey of Bootyman Printers, the Hull-based label printer with a staff of 16, said: We think that the union should be involved in these kinds of situations. There’s no reason to treat a small company any differently than a large one.

FSB’S PROPOSALS
• reduction in bureaucracy when an employee asks for time off to train
• exemption from union involvement for small businesses when holding informal meetings
• lower costs in the training process
• clearer guidelines