HC Deb 16 March 1979 vol 964 cc335-7W
Mr. Moonman

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the terms of the agreement on The Times dispute reached under his auspices last week; and when it will take effect.

Mr. Booth

The agreement has now been endorsed by the executives of the print unions concerned and by the board of Times Newspapers Limited. The NUJ executive will be considering the matter later this month. I have now written to the parties to confirm that the agreement should be regarded as effective, and urging them to proceed quickly with the detailed negotiations aimed at resumption of publication by 17 April.

The agreement is in the following terms:

TIMES NEWSPAPERS

  1. 1. With the aim of securing full resumption of publication by April 17, and reinstatement of staff, TNL and the unions concerned will enter into immediate detailed nogtiations on the matters indicated in paragraph 4.
  2. 2. As part of this preliminary agreement, TNL undertake to re-engage for the period from the time of the acceptance of this agreement until April 17 all regular staff who have been dismissed in accordance with the TNL letter of 15 December 1978. In addition staff who had been wholly unemployed during the period since the termination of their contracts will receive compensation amounting to 50% of their loss of earnings.
  3. 3. Following agreement with all unions concerned, publication will be resumed and all employees referred to in paragraph 2 will be offered complete re-instatement, with compensation for any net loss of earnings for the period during which they were not employed by TNL.
  4. 4. Matters of Negotiation
    1. (a) a disputes procedure coupled with means of maintaining continuous production;
    2. (b) efficient working arrangements coupled with a productivity deal and wage restructuring;
    3. (c) the application of new technology in accordance with a time-table to be agreed and with arrangements for future joint reviews;
    4. (d) a time-table for implementation of staffing levels agreed will be negotiated during the period between the signing of this agreement and resumption of publication, subject to preservation of the principle of voluntary redundancy.
  5. 5. During the course of the detailed negotiations it will be open to the parties to seek advice and assistance from the TUC at any time.
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  6. 6. Issues unresolved by April 7 should be referred to the ACAS for conciliation. The parties will be free at any time to report back to the Secretary of State on the progress of negotiations.
  7. 7. It is agreed that detailed negotiations on the matters in paragraph 4 should take place without preconditions imposed by either side and that both unions and management should be free to make new proposals and counterproposals on those matters.
  8. 8. It is the intention of all parties to this agreement that Chapel officials should be fully involved in these negotiations.