HL Deb 12 January 1998 vol 584 cc157-8WA
Baroness Turner of Camden

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have received any representations concerning the compliance with EU directives and ILO conventions of the industrial relations policy of United Bank Ltd. (a Pakistan-owned bank operating in the United Kingdom); and what steps they will take to ensure that the Bank's industrial relations policy does comply with those directives and conventions.

Lord Simon of Highbury

My department has received several representations from the Banking Insurance and Finance Union about the bank's decisions to derecognise it for collective bargaining purposes and to declare redundancies. The representations have not specifically referred to compliance with EU directives or ILO conventions. The bank is subject to employment law in the normal way, and there are remedies under the law if employees consider that the bank has failed to comply with its statutory or contractual obligations. The Government intend to publish a White Paper on fairness at work, and principally union recognition, in the first part of next year.