Following Michael Carty's recent blog on the CIPD's proposal that the government should consider the "nuclear option" of a ban on strikes in essential services as a last resort to push through public spending cuts, I have canvassed opinion and got a less than enthusiastic response from HR, employment lawyers and union representatives.

The CIPD has introduced a set of radical suggestions to the debate on how the Government is to implement its planned programme of public spending cuts. Arguably the most controversial of these is what it describes as "the nuclear option".

The "nuclear option" is a suggested means to push through public spending cuts if they are met with widespread strike action. It involves "banning strike action by workers involved in the essential services" (it defines "essential services" as straddling the public and private sectors).

This "nuclear option" is set out in the CIPD's Building productive public sector workplaces report (PDF format, 201.5K).

The report adopts a measured, equivocal tone throughout, emphasising that "the nuclear option" should only be deployed as a measure of the very last resort.

But a close reading suggests that, in the event of such a "nuclear" scenario becoming reality, the CIPD might be of the opinion that the political objective of forcing through the coalition Government's public spending cuts trumps the right of public and private sector workers in "essential services" to strike.

The 142nd 2010 TUC Congress - to be held in Manchester between 13 and 16 September 2010 - could prove to be "the launchpad for union resistance to planned Government cuts", the Guardian reports. It says that the TUC is looking to organise "a national day of action" to coincide with Chancellor George Osborne's planned announcement of the details of the comprehensive review of public spending on Wednesday 20 October 2010. The Guardian says that this national day of action will be followed by "a further day of marches and demonstrations [...] planned for 23 October, as well as a series of strike days during the autumn as unions gear up to fight an expected 600,000 public sector job losses."

The ongoing dispute between British Airways and its cabin crew (on the BBC website) provides a persuasive illustration of why employers should try to avoid industrial action if at all possible.

Tens of thousands of expectant holidaymakers are facing cancelled flights as a result of the current British Airways cabin crew strike, which is set to continue until Wednesday. British Airways estimates that the five-day strike is costing the company a staggering seven million pounds a day.

A Bill has been approved in the US state of Tennessee that allows employers to require employees to speak English on the job, reports the Tennessean website. But is it legitimate for UK employers to adopt an English-only policy?

Taking part in the 2010 employee communications survey from IRS for XpertHR will provide you with the chance to see how your policy and practice on employee communications stacks up against those of your comparators and competitors.

Key areas covered by the survey include the following:

• which communication methods UK employers are using, and which ones work best;
• how social media are changing the face of internal communications;
• how employers have used communication programmes to lessen the workplace impact of the recession; and
• HR's views on how interacting with employees can make a difference to the organisation.

The majority of votes are now in for the general election 2010, but no one party has a clear majority. The outlook remains uncertain, although a hung Parliament with the Conservatives the largest party appears the most likely outcome (external website). What is certain is that once the dust of the general election 2010 finally settles, the next Government (whether it be a single party Government or a coalition) will be forced to turn its attentions immediately to the pressing - and long delayed - matter of dealing with a record budget deficit (external website) which the European Commission forecasts will be worse than all other EU members (including Greece) (external website) this year. Although the resulting programme of austerity measures is unlikely to provoke anything like the scenes of rioting witnessed in Greece (external website) this week, the reaction from public sector workers looks set to be heated, with widespread strike action seemingly inevitable.

Workers at a Copenhagen Carlsberg warehouse returned to work yesterday after striking over their right to drink beer on the job.

Workers were previously allowed to drink the produce while working, but Carlsberg has changed its policy, limiting the warehouse staff to one bottle of free beer a day, to be consumed while on their lunch break. The Associated Press reports that the brewery's drivers are still entitled to their three bottles a day.

What issues do line managers deal with on a daily basis? We’ve gathered data to come up with our 10 most popular line manager briefings since January 2009 (which might go some way to providing the answer).

Gordon Brown has come under fire amidst bullying allegations by staff at No.10, Downing Street. According to Christine Pratt, CEO of the National Bullying Helpline, the charity has received several “confidential” enquiries from the PM’s staff. Somewhat controversially, Ms Pratt, who is quoted on the BBC website, has decided to go public with this information.

The statutory maximum unfair dismissal compensation award from 1 February 2010 is £65,300 - a high price to pay for not following a disciplinary procedure deemed to be fair and reasonable.

In Metrobus Ltd v Cook (EAT/0490/06) the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that an employment tribunal did not err in increasing the amount of unfair dismissal compensation by 40% where an employer had failed to follow the statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedure.

IRS is conducting research to look at how employers deal with grievances and disciplinaries. We also want to collect feedback on the reaction to the new Acas code, and whether it has helped or hindered in dealing with employee grievances and disciplinaries.

Taking part in this confidential survey will give you a unique opportunity to benchmark your organisation's procedures for dealing with individual disputes against other employers in your sector.

Many public sector workers already face low pay increases or pay freezes in 2010. Now, in an interview with the Sunday Times, Chancellor Alistair Darling has indicated that public sector pay will be subject to "restructuring" (external website), which could result in pay cuts for some jobs.

Employees have a statutory right to take time off work for a myriad of reasons ranging from parental leave to dealing with care arrangements. One survey found that 34% of employees needed to take time off for an emergency involving a dependant. There’s even a new right for employees to request time off for training, due to come into force in April this year.

The transfer of staff where TUPE applies on the sale of a business or transfer of a service is an area that invariably causes headaches for the HR teams involved. Getting to grips with even just the basics of TUPE can raise complex questions and practical difficulties. The IRS conference on managing successful TUPE staff transfers aims to refresh your understanding of the basics, as well as looking in detail at more advanced issues arising from TUPE transfers.

We've put together a resource pack to accompany the conference, which brings together the information and guidance on TUPE that is available on XpertHR, to help delegates get the most out of the conference. If you can't make the conference, the resource pack will still be a useful tool in updating your team on the essentials and latest developments in the law on TUPE.

With economic recovery in prospect, employers need to turn their attention from organisational survival to employee engagement (external website), if they are to prevent their most valued staff from jumping ship as the labour market thaws. This is according to Chartered Management Institute chief executive Ruth Spellman.

Do you need to know about employment law in France? The latest European employment law guide added to XpertHR looks at key elements of employment law in Frances as it applies to: recruitment and selection; pay and benefits; employee rights; contracts of employment; training and development; equal opportunities; industrial relations; health and safety; and termination of employment.

XpertHR regularly publishes information on industrial relations law and practice across Europe - providing expert analysis of developments at European level and in individual European countries. In addition, other guides to national employment law in European countries include: the Netherlands; Italy; Germany; Greece; Poland; and Ireland. For ease of reference, we’ve rounded our European information up on one European employment law and practice page.

Remember that we want to provide information on the countries that are relevant to you in your HR role - so let us know which countries you’d like to see guidance on in the future.

Want to receive the answer to a frequently asked HR question every day? If you’re on Twitter, you can do so by following HRdailyquestion. The questions come from the popular XpertHR FAQs section, which contains over 1,000 frequently asked HR questions - and more importantly the answers.

The draw for the football World Cup (on the BBC website) taking place in summer 2010 has now been made, while the England cricket team's defence of the Ashes begins in late 2010 and the rugby World Cup takes place in 2011. And of course we have the London Olympics to look forward to in 2012. XpertHR has published a model policy [subscription required] to help employers deal with issues that will inevitably arise during these major sporting events.

A properly completed ET3 form in response to an employment tribunal claim can mean the difference between winning and losing a case. The importance of spending time preparing and completing the ET3, while keeping to the 28-day time limit for responding, should not be underestimated.

A new guide in the XpertHR How To section gives practical advice on completing the ET3, including issues to consider and pitfalls to avoid.

• How to respond to an employment tribunal claim is in the XpertHR How To section (subscription required).

Engaging employees is not just about "being nice". Rather, it should be a commercially-driven activity capable of delivering real impact on the bottom line. This is according to a very interesting report on a webinar conducted by Naomi Simson, CEO of gift supplier RedBalloon, and reported on excellent Australian HR website HRdaily (external website).

Werner Heubeck, whose exploits as managing director of Ulsterbus during the worst of the Troubles included personally boarding buses to remove suspect packages, has died at the age of 85. The Daily Telegraph has published an obituary of Heubeck on its website.

Yesterday I attended the IRS conference on working with trade unions. The conference was chaired by Bruce Warman, former HR director of Vauxhall Motors, who spoke of his concern that skills in handling industrial relations had been sidelined during years of relative calm, as HR professionals focused more on areas such as talent development, training and retention. This is only becoming apparent now as employers are having to deal with more difficult relations with unions and staff a result of the recession.

If you missed the conference yesterday, there is another IRS event coming up - the IRS Masterclass on formal trade union negotiations - this time with a more practical focus and the chance to take part in a mock negotiation.

Once employees have been given notice of dismissal by reason of redundancy, should employers sit back and be satisfied that they have complied with their obligations to inform and consult?

The IRS essential HR update on working with trade unions takes place in London on 15 October 2009. We’ve put together a trade union resource pack to help XpertHR subscribers attending the event get the most out of it.

With the 2009 Conservative Party conference taking place in Manchester this week, and a general election looming, XpertHR looks at the employment law changes that an incoming Conservative Government might make.

Employment tribunal claims often come down to whose evidence the tribunal finds more convincing. A new guide in the XpertHR "how to" section gives practical guidance on how to give effective witness evidence.

• How to give witness evidence in employment tribunal proceedings is in the XpertHR "how to " section (subscription required).

It appears that French workers have a flair for the dramatic when it comes to industrial action. After taking bosses hostage and rigging factories with bombs, they've now threatened to dump toxic fuel into the Seine (on the Guardian website).

The UK's ability to pull itself out of the 2009 recession could be impeded by managers failing to engage with and effectively motivate a workforce that has been demoralised by economic hard times and consequent waves of job cuts. This is the overriding message from two new studies focusing on how managers are communicating with their remaining workers during the economic downturn.

Leslie Strathie, appointed chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs at the tail end of last year, has announced that she is commissioning a cultural survey to examine what lies behind low staff morale at HMRC, as revealed by a number of surveys (ePolitix website).

As many as one in eight UK workers could be off sick (external website) when the current wave of the 2009 swine flu pandemic reaches its expected peak in the coming weeks, according to Government estimates.

The swine flu pandemic is causing UK absence rates to soar (external website), resulting in a threefold increase in absence rates, according to latest data from absence management support company FirstCare.

The Acas annual report for 2008/09, published this week, shows that the recession has caused a significant increase in the number of employment tribunal claims, with an increase of 18% in the number of claims referred to Acas for conciliation. Most strikingly, the number of unfair dismissal claims brought to tribunal has increased by 22% to 55,000 claims in the year.

A review commissioned by the government and carried out by contributors from Sainsbury's UBS Group, HSBC, Financial TImes Group and the Work Foundation, has concluded that involving employees fully in the future of the organisations they work for will be a key step if businesses are to innovate and take advantage of new opportunites.

The MacLeod Review of employee engagement was asked to examine whether a wider take-up of engagement approaches by UK employers could impact positively on UK competitiveness and performance. The report's authors gave an unequivocal yes to this in its findings and gave examples of workplaces where putting employee engagement at the heart of business strategy has been "transformational".

It sounds like the stuff of nightmares - you dream you’ve gone to work, and suddenly you’re sitting at your desk and you’re naked. While most people would wake up screaming at this point, business psychologist, David Taylor, is using the idea of ‘Naked Friday’ to boost team morale in flagging companies.

The recession has led to an increase in flexible working practices as employers and employees cooperate to save jobs, according to a survey by the CBI and recruitment consultants Harvey Nash.

45% of firms responding to the survey have increased flexible working, with the twin aims of reducing hours and meeting employees' requests for a work-life balance. A further 24% said they were considering such an increase.

A successful TUPE transfer involves much more than following your legal transfer of undertakings obligations. That’s why at XpertHR we’re putting together a specification for a good practice guide on TUPE transfers to add to our good practice guide series. After all, employees who understand the organisation they’re transferring to, and the implications of the transfer for them, are much less likely to become demotivated and resistant to the change.

So let us know what you’d like to see included. Suggestions so far include approaches to introducing the affected employees to their new employer, and guidance on meaningful consultation. If you have any suggestions, you can either leave a comment below, or email my colleague Bar Huberman at bar.huberman@rbi.co.uk.

Around 900 workers at the Lindsey oil refinery who have been on an unofficial strike over redundancies since last Thursday have been sacked, according to the Independent.

BECTU - @bectu and @BectuHMbranch
CWU - @cwu
EQUITY - EquityUK
FBU - @FBUScotland and  @fbulearning
RMT - @RMTunion
Prospect - @CLGprospect and @ProspectUnion 
PCS - @pcs_union
UNISON - @unisontweets
Unite - @unitetheunion
Amicus - @AmicusCabinCrew
UCU - @ucu 

If your employer asked you to sign up for "unpaid work" would you be tempted? WIllie Walsh, the chief executive at British Airways has urged his staff to do just that (on the Guardian website). To be fair, he has himself offered to work during July without pay, but - as unions are keen to point out - the £61,000 he loses on one month's work is worth more than twice the annual salary of cabin crew employees at the airline.

The Government has announced (on the News Distribution Service website) that it is to introduce legislation to prevent employers blacklisting workers as a result of their union membership or activities.

Are you struggling to motivate staff on Fridays? Perhaps you could follow the example of Kellogg's. The company has launched its summer working hours scheme that allows employees to leave work at noon on Fridays provided that they have completed their contractual 36.6-hour working week.

A Serbian union official has chopped off his finger and eaten it in a protest over wages to show how desperate workers are, according to Sky News.

A real one! The High Court recently held that a teacher should have been allowed to be accompanied by a lawyer at a disciplinary hearing in circumstances where a consequence of the hearing could be the addition of his name to the register of individuals deemed unsuitable to work with children. The seriousness of the allegations against the employee combined with the possible impact on his career meant that he was entitled to legal representation. See R (on the application of G) v The Governors of X School [2009] EWHC 504 HC (subscription required).

You wait forever for the employment tribunal statistics - and then two sets come along at once. Well, not exactly, as the figures for April 2008 to February 2009 provided to XpertHR by the Tribunals Service today are only provisional, and therefore subject to change. They do, however, give an indication of what the final figures are likely to look like.

The French have a certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to industrial action. When workers at a Sony factory in south-west France were unhappy about their redundancy terms they locked the head of Sony France - along with the HR director - in the factory, overnight. Apparently, it was all fairly good humoured and led to the re-opening of talks.

So far, British industrial action involves a more hands-off approach, but I wonder whether senior leaders involved in mass redundancies should be advised to store a sleeping bag and a toothbrush in the office, just in case...

The new Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures [on the Acas website] has been approved by Parliament. The code, which comes into force on 6 April 2009, sets out the principles for handling disciplinary and grievance procedures after the repeal of the statutory dispute resolution procedures on the same date.

I wasn't surprised to see the Daily Mail yesterday referring to the unofficial strikes by energy workers as illegal ("The wildcat refinery strikes are illegal", said the Mail), but now People Management, which ought to know better, has joined in ("Sellafield workers begin illegal walkout", says PM).

The recession of the early 1980s decimated the trade union movement in this country. Indeed, it is not too much of a push to argue that some of the economic policies pursued by government at the time were intended to achieve just that.

There is no one easy way to achieve employee engagement, but by following a few basic pointers employers can find they are dealing with a far more loyal, dynamic and contented workforce, according to academics and practitioners speaking at this week's CIPD engagement conference.

Examples of what has worked for employers include the creative use of film and interactive media to inspire and engage; employee benefits that have a real, personal impact; and a "Dragon's Den" for employee ideas at Birmingham City Council.

Vodafone's new-look communication programme, which it launched in a difficult, post-redundancy environment, is a particularly relevant success story that may strike a chord for other struggling employers.

It seems that the current economic climate is making public sector jobs more attractive, according to a survey by Hays Public Services (external website). In fact, almost three out of four private sector workers (72%) said they would be more likely to consider a job in the public sector now than they would have been a year ago, and a fifth of respondents (18%) are developing transferable skills in preparation for a move to the public sector.

The information super highway that is the internet has revolutionised the workplace. It has also created a myriad of new challenges for employers with employee email and internet misuse frequently cited by employers as a particular thorn in their side.

With potential redundancy programmes in the pipeline, the time is ripe for organisations to ensure that their consultation arrangements are robust. Yet the latest government reports on information and consultation arrangements reveal that many employers are failing to put in the effort required to make employee communications effective. It also makes it clear that increasing the aptitude of employee reps can hugely affect the success of consultation.

Another sign of turbulent times in UK workplaces - the advisory and conciliation service Acas has just announced that, due to extremely heavy demand, some callers are finding they are unable to get through to its helpline.

Although lavish end-of-year events may be on the decline as the credit crunch bites, few employers will want to do away completely with their morale-boosting Christmas party. But remember, however low-key your planned event, the workplace party can be an employment law minefield. As the party season approaches, XpertHR provides a work Christmas party checklist to help ensure a claim-free event.

How many of you came to work this morning properly dressed for the occasion? That’s witches hats or pitchforks in case you’re wondering - not suits or your smartest jeans. Not many? Thought not. For most British workers, the nearest their office will get to Halloween celebrations today is an abundance of pumpkin-related dishes appearing in the canteen.

The Acas annual report for 2007-08 shows a massive increase in the number of cases received for conciliation, with the number of equal pay complaints received outstripping the traditionally most popular complaint, unfair dismissal, by more than 15,000.

Trade unions will be counting the cost after a Court of Appeal decision that the GMB committed indirect sex discrimination in failing to pursue Middlesbrough Borough Council in connection with a long-running equal pay dispute.

The Central Arbitration Committee has seen a steady stream of applications for trade union recognition according to its latest annual report (external website).

In the year ending 31 March 2008, it received 64 applications for trade union recognition, unchanged on the number received the previous year. The majority of applications came from the manufacturing, transport and communication sectors. Just over half (53%) of these were for bargaining groups of less than 200 employees.

If you enjoyed watching the Home Secretary's ordeal at the Police Federation conference, then you might want to watch the rest of the event live on the Federation's website.

They are also promising to post archive footage so you can watch those Jacqui Smith moments over and over again, should you so choose.

Trade unions can have an important role to play in the employer-employee relationship, but how do you go about setting up an effective working arrangement?

Union Island is the latest innovation in the virtual world Second Life. This trade union project provides a virtual island community for trade unionists and activists, which will let activisits from around the world meet and work together.

The launch of the island is being marked with a virtual May Day - a day of training and networking, including a dance party with a live DJ from Second Life's club 'Fracture'.

Themed surgeries are also planned - in Union Island's virtual bar - where trade unionists can swap practical tips from around the world over a pint of virtual beer.

Speaking as a trade unionist myself, I have to say I am most disappointed about the prospect of virtual beer . . .

The “soft” side of people management is more important than the rational, “hard” stuff and that’s official, coming from the lips of Professor Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe, who spoke at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) conference this week about her latest research into engaging leadership.

To sum up her findings (to be published later in the year) she confirms what many of us already believe – that treating people in the workplace like human beings and allowing them to contribute meaningfully to the organisation can achieve wonders. One example of this is Pentax [subscription required], where the company directors transformed the profitability of the company by establishing a culture of real engagement.

Our recent survey (subscription required) looking at line managers’ role in people management shows that employee engagement is a growing part of a line manager’s function.

But, as our survey also shows, one in five HR practitioners responding felt that this was a role that line managers struggle to perform well.

I attended a seminar recently, given by international employee opinion survey ORC (external link), exploring this very topic. Kate Pritchard, ORC director of employee research, discussed practical steps organisations can take to keep engagement levels high among employees. This should help employees to remain committed to the organisation, and be prepared to “go that extra mile” – as outlined by ORC's model of engagement: ‘Say, stay, and strive’.

One thing was clear from the seminar: achieving and sustaining an engaged workforce requires effort, and conducting an employee opinion survey can be no more than a starting point.

Union members at the conciliation service ACAS have voted by two to one for a programme of rolling one-hour strikes in a dispute over pay, reports the BBC. This poses the intriguing question of who is best placed to intervene and help the two sides resolve their differences. Sounds like a job for . . . ACAS?

Well, we just about made the 1 million mark for strike days in 2007. Yesterday's ONS figures (subscription required) show there were in fact 1,034,000 days lost to industrial action last year thanks to a surprisingly high December figure of 68,000.

Still no sign of the end of the world, though.

Photo: Tube strikes on the way – Metro by Annie Mole

Employers across Europe are missing out on potential talent because line managers fail to engage poorer performing employees, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt.

The research, which covers 175 companies and 5,500 employees, finds that managers are far too preoccupied with top performers and fail to communicate effectively with those that show less promise. As a result, those that need to have their skills or motivation boosted are left high and dry.

It would appear that the hard times are over for Acas. The conciliation service learned today that it will be getting an extra £37 million from the government as part of the shake-up of the statutory disputes resolution process.

It is a nice welcome present for incoming Acas chair Ed Sweeney, who took over from his long-serving predecessor Rita Donaghy recently after what had been a difficult time for Acas funding.

Wouldn't you just love to work in Channel Four's HR department and have a boss like Luke Johnson? It must put a spring in your step every day as you head in to the office.

Well, publication of the number of days lost to strikes in November 2007 (subscription required) came and went this week and the world did not end. We are, officially, still 24,000 days short of the 1 million mark for 2007.

Not that that is going to deter Alan Duncan, the Tories' chief spokesman on business, enterprise and regulatory affairs, who says the figures show that the unions "have Brown over a barrel".

Which group of employees are the most engaged, committed and motivated in your organisation? Who has the greatest sense of affiliation with the employer, the highest career satisfaction and the most trust in management?

Step forward, the sales team . . .

It looks very much as though, when the final figures are in, the number of days lost to strikes in 2007 may have exceeded one million. If so, this will be the first time since 1996 – which you may recall as the last year before the election of a Labour government.

The latest official figures (subscription required) show that there were 948,000 strike days in the ten months to the end of October 2007, with around one-third of that number taking place in October itself. November's figures are due out on 16 January.

With grumbling in the police ranks over this year's pay deal now threatening to spill over into a demand for the right to strike, it is worth recalling that the police have been on strike before – most notably in 1918 and 1919.

It appears that UK managers are sticking to the stiff upper lip approach, when it comes to appraisals.

A survey by Investors in People has found that nearly half of employees (44%) who receive appraisals suspect that their bosses are not telling them the truth about their performance.

"There are eight million stories in the city, and this is one of them" goes the voiceover as the camera pans across a New York skyline. The face of Harvey Keitel fills the screen. But without a script, Keitel is speechless.

So too are Sean Penn, Kate Beckinsale, Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Minnie Driver (pictured here), Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and – thankfully – the cast of Ugly Betty.

They are among the Hollywood A listers who have signed up to a project in support of the Writers Guild of America, which is currently locked in a bitter industrial dispute over payment for DVD and digital rights.

Members of the largest local government union will not be striking over pay this year, following a very narrow vote in favour of industrial action on a 24.4% turn-out.