Overtime ban

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Overtime bans are a type of strike in which workers refuse to engage in overtime work, being any work that falls outside of contracted hours. [1] They do this to leverage their employer into negotiating various working conditions. Often organised in unions, workers may choose this form of industrial action to bargain for a higher rate of pay, better working conditions or to discourage an employer from making redundancies. [1] Unlike a full strike in which employees are usually in breach of their contract, workers engaging in overtime bans are typically well protected. Employers cannot legally withhold normal wages during an overtime ban if employees are not breaching the terms of their employment contracts by refusing to do overtime work. [2] However, the legalities of overtime bans do vary between countries. Overtime bans are effective where "industries and organisations run on such habitually high levels of overtime or goodwill that overtime bans ... can have a significant and immediate impact upon the availability of a good or service". [3] Historically, unions have at times received criticism on ethical grounds for choosing to enact overtime bans. The literature records the occurrence of such bans from the 1800s and there is documentation of their use in four continents.

Contents

Purpose

Employees use overtime bans to protest their working conditions and pay. They may also be used to demonstrate to employers that more staff members are needed or that no staff can afford to be let go. Where an employer intends to make redundancies, an overtime ban may be an effective way for workers to persuade their employer into changing their course of action.

Role and influence of unions

Unions frequently sanction and organise overtime bans. They are often responsible for helping workers to agree on the logistics of a ban. Where an industry-wide overtime ban must be carried out at multiple individual places of work, unions play an especially important role in helping workers to act in a unified way.

An example of this occurred when three broadcasting unions known at ACTT, BETA and EETPU collaborated to impose an overtime ban on an English production company called HTV in 1990. [4] They were protesting the planned redundancy of 85 workers. [4] The unions agreed on the ban at a conference and instructed all workers not to engage in overtime work, including freelance contractors. [4] The result of the union action was that it caused significant disruption to the daily functioning of the company, forcing it to reschedule a number of their productions and miss routine news coverage that viewers would have expected to see. [4]

An overtime ban was used to bargain for increased pay rates when the Association of Broadcasting and Allied Staffs (ABS) incited members to stop working overtime for the BBC in the Christmas and New Year period of 1978/1979 in London. [5] Workers had been chronically dissatisfied with the rate of pay after the government had set a limit for industry pay increases of 5%. [5] By strategically putting pressure on the BBC, workers could effectively force the BBC to, in turn, lobby the government to lift the 5% rule. [5] The BBC, which relied heavily on overtime workers to create and air their programmes on time, was unable to deliver much of the television schedule that had been planned over the peak period. [5] When shows were not aired, the BBC showed messages on the screen such as the ones depicted, to make the company's situation known publicly in an attempt to attract the government's attention. [5] Below is an excerpt from Tubeworker, a magazine produced by workers and published by an organisation called Workers' Liberty. It provides an example of how a union may go about mobilising its workers. In this case, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), were encouraging its members to consider organising an overtime ban in a larger effort to secure a pay increase and to prohibit compulsory redundancies. [6]

"This action must and will go ahead. We cannot back down without a serious win. We want a one year real terms pay rise, no compulsory redundancies and no more bullying and will not accept a trade-off between these demands. We should all join picket lines. Branches should plan them, bring new people, make it fun! We need a strategy to win... RMT needs to set more strikes to show we are serious and pile pressure on management. 'Action short of strike' can keep momentum between strikes: 'work to rule', overtime ban, revenue strike. Think what action could have an impact where you work, and feed it back to the union." [6]

History and legalities

North America

The acting Governor of New Jersey, Donald T. DiFrancesco, signed off on a law that became effective in 2003 that protected nurses engaged in overtime bans. [7] It stipulated that nurses would not be acting criminally if they refused to engage in work beyond their contracted 40-hour week. [7] Only in "emergency circumstances" could employers refuse to abide by this law, defined as "an unpredictable or unavoidable occurrence at (an) unscheduled interval relating to health care delivery that requires immediate action". [7] The law was first effective for nurses in acute care and after six months was extended to other facilities including nursing homes. [7] Jeannemarie Otersen, a healthcare union advocate, described the law as the "first and strongest" in the country, as it would allow nurses to engage in industrial action without breaking the law or fearing for the loss of their jobs. [7]

In May 2000, pilots who refused to work overtime meant that United Airlines had to cancel approximately 150 flights throughout the US. [8] The pilots were motivated to enact the ban because they felt that issues regarding their contracts – including problems related to "wages, job security and benefits" – had not been satisfactorily addressed by United Airlines during the negotiation period. [8] The Air Line Association (ALA), the union responsible for mobilising pilots, commented that they warned the airline "for months of an imminent pilot shortage". [8]

Africa

South Africa

South African law encourages workers to reach settlements with employers before carrying out industrial actions of any sort, including overtime bans. [2] It is a criminal offence for employees to engage in an overtime ban, or any sort of strike, without first exhausting the 'statutory dispute settlement' options available to them, which include the option to settle negotiations in court. [2] However, if this fails, South African workers may conduct overtime bans without violating the law and are actually protected by it. [2] The South African law concerning overtime bans has evolved from judgments handed down in pivotal cases, called case law. This case law mostly surrounds the interpretation of the Labour Relations Act 28 of 1956 and a particular few of its sections. In the case of Macsteel (Pty) Ltd v National Union of Metalworkers of SA & Others (1989) 10 ILJ 285 (IC), employees were found to be using an overtime ban as an "unfair labour practice" because it was being used to "soften up" the employer prior to negotiations being reached during statutory dispute settlement. [9] In the case of Silver Oak Tanneries t/a Silverton Tannery v Garment & Allied Workers Union (October 1989 (case NH 12/3/286), however, the court found that "preventing an overtime ban would amount to compelling an employee to commit a criminal offence... forcing him to work without consent". [9] Context is therefore of paramount importance to South African courts when they determine the legality of an overtime ban.

Europe

Nordic Countries

In Nordic countries, being Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, a high percentage of the population is employed by the public sector and belong to centralised, nationwide trade unions founded in the 19th and 20th centuries. [10] The Unions are typically well organised and hold a great deal of power over employers, who understand that employees are loyal to their union and are likely to carry out the industrial action that they threaten. [10] The legislation in each of the countries aims to limit industrial conflict. For this reason, unions and employers are highly motivated to settle disputes through negotiation before any form of industrial action, including overtime bans, are implemented. [10] In the early 20th century, each of the countries established mediation institutions to help unions and employers reach agreements. Where this fails, overtime bans are permitted by law and intervention by the government is very rare. [10]

In February 2020, the Finnish airline Finnair experienced an overtime ban imposed by workers of the aviation workers' union AIU. [11] Passengers who had scheduled flights were advised to pack minimal luggage that could fit in overhead storage space because staff responsible for baggage handling duties were not engaging in overtime duties. [11] Passengers were also asked to arrive earlier than usual for flights given the staff shortages. [11] The ban lasted three days following a breakdown in communication between staff and Finnair who "struggled to find common ground on a new collective bargaining agreement". [11] The previous employment agreement that had stipulated "wages and other terms and conditions" had just expired. [11]

United Kingdom

The Clearing Bank Union (CBU) was responsible for mobilising workers in the financial sector to threaten and enact a number of successful overtime bans between 1985 and 1989. [12] The union formed after the Banking, Insurance and Finance Unions at big clearing banks including NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds and Midland joined forces. [12] In 1985, the CBU voted in favour of an overtime ban to protest about their pay. The threat of the ban was sufficient to cause the banks to increase their pay offer which was accepted. [12] In 1987, 70,000 members in Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays decided to enact an overtime ban for 16 weeks following unsuccessful negotiations with management for a pay rise. [12] Workers at the bank TSB secured a pay rise during negotiations, but joined the overtime ban when the company "increased its services without increasing its staff levels". [12] Lloyds improved its workers' pay conditions so that they matched those being offered at Midland. The other banks came to agreements that satisfied the union and were accepted by workers who then returned to work as usual. [12]

Australia

In Australia, laws governing the legality of overtime bans are written in legislation. They are detailed in the Fair Work Act 2009 which aims to promote "productivity and fairness" in the workplace. [13] It stipulates that employers cannot withhold wages from employees who engage in overtime bans if they are not breaking their contractual obligations. [13] Unless overtime work is overtly agreed upon and in the employee's contract, they are free to decline to engage in overtime work. [13]

From 1908, a Sydney based engineering company called Mort's Dock became the subject of multiple overtime bans. [14] They were imposed by employees who had a "long history of organisation and mobilisation". [14] They formed two unions: The Amalgamated Society of Engineers and the Federated Society of Boilermakers. Mort's Dock was initially hiring and dismissing its workers 'job-to-job', meaning that most workers "experienced irregular and unstable patterns of employment". [14] The practice was for workers to line up each morning in the hope of securing work for that day. [14] Mort's Dock also privileged a small group of workers with large amounts of overtime work so that they could avoid hiring more hands throughout the day. [14] By consistently imposing overtime bans, the unions "forced Mort's Dock to employ more workers". [14] Leadership within the union was of utmost importance in achieving this result. Falkinham, who was the president of the Boilermakers Society, was responsible for mobilising workers to line up for work three times a day. [14] This prevented the company from being able to complain of a shortage of workers; an excuse that they could have used to justify giving all of the overtime work to only a few employees. [14] In 1917, when these workers were denied a wage increase, the two unions worked together to impose overtime bans on night shift work which they continued until 1919 when Mort's Dock increased their wage. [14] The bans are described as being examples of strong collective workforce action that effectively undermined the company's ability to treat its workers unfairly. [14]

Controversy

In 2019, nurses who were part of the Nurses of the Psychiatric Nurses Association in Ireland imposed an overtime ban to address "recruitment and retention" issues. [15] The Irish Minister for Health, Simon Harris, considered this to be an irresponsible decision that put vulnerable people at risk due to the lack of care available to them during the strike period. [15]

Another case of controversy arose when the London government was criticised by its mayor in 2016 when "thousands of commuters suffered" because train drivers imposed an overtime ban to protest their working conditions. [16] He felt that "the ongoing chaos on Southern rail services is a total disgrace that is badly failing commuters who just want to get to work and back. The unions should cancel the strikes and get back around the negotiating table, but the government are washing their hands of this crisis and abandoning commuters in the process." [16] It is not uncommon for overtime bans to attract scrutiny.

Related Research Articles

The Railway Labor Act is a United States federal law that governs labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The Act, enacted in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, seeks to substitute bargaining, arbitration, and mediation for strikes to resolve labor disputes. Its provisions were originally enforced under the Board of Mediation, but they were later enforced under a National Mediation Board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strike action</span> Work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work

Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike and industrial action in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. As striking became a more common practice, governments were often pushed to act. When government intervention occurred, it was rarely neutral or amicable. Early strikes were often deemed unlawful conspiracies or anti-competitive cartel action and many were subject to massive legal repression by state police, federal military power, and federal courts. Many Western nations legalized striking under certain conditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. A collective agreement reached by these negotiations functions as a labour contract between an employer and one or more unions, and typically establishes terms regarding wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms, and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs. Such agreements can also include 'productivity bargaining' in which workers agree to changes to working practices in return for higher pay or greater job security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Kingdom labour law</span> Rights of workers, unions, and duties of employers in the UK

United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK have a minimum set of employment rights, from Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity. This includes the right to a minimum wage of £10.42 for over-23-year-olds from April 2023 under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The Working Time Regulations 1998 give the right to 28 days paid holidays, breaks from work, and attempt to limit long working hours. The Employment Rights Act 1996 gives the right to leave for child care, and the right to request flexible working patterns. The Pensions Act 2008 gives the right to be automatically enrolled in a basic occupational pension, whose funds must be protected according to the Pensions Act 1995. Workers must be able to vote for trustees of their occupational pensions under the Pensions Act 2004. In some enterprises, such as universities or NHS foundation trusts, staff can vote for the directors of the organisation. In enterprises with over 50 staff, workers must be negotiated with, with a view to agreement on any contract or workplace organisation changes, major economic developments or difficulties. The UK Corporate Governance Code recommends worker involvement in voting for a listed company's board of directors but does not yet follow international standards in protecting the right to vote in law. Collective bargaining, between democratically organised trade unions and the enterprise's management, has been seen as a "single channel" for individual workers to counteract the employer's abuse of power when it dismisses staff or fix the terms of work. Collective agreements are ultimately backed up by a trade union's right to strike: a fundamental requirement of democratic society in international law. Under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 strike action is protected when it is "in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute".

Industrial action or job action is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increase bargaining power with the employer and intended to force the employer to improve them by reducing productivity in a workplace. Industrial action is usually organized by trade unions or other organised labour, most commonly when employees are forced out of work due to contract termination and without reaching an agreement with the employer. Quite often it is used and interpreted as a euphemism for strike or mass strike, but the scope is much wider. Industrial action may take place in the context of a labour dispute or may be meant to effect political or social change. This form of communication tends to be their only means to voice their concerns about safety and benefits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 Australian waterfront dispute</span> Event in Australian industrial relations history

The Australian waterfront dispute of 1998 was an event in Australian industrial relations history, in which the Patrick Corporation undertook a restructuring of their operations for the purpose of dismissing their workforce. The restructuring by Patrick Corporation was later ruled illegal by Australian courts. The dispute involved Patrick Corporation terminating the employment of its workforce and locking out the workers of the workplace after the restructuring had taken place, with many of these workers members of the dominant Maritime Union of Australia. The resulting dismissal and locking out of their unionised workforce was supported and backed by the Australian Liberal/National Coalition Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian labour law</span> Rights and duties of workers, unions and employers in Australia

Australian labour law sets the rights of working people, the role of trade unions, and democracy at work, and the duties of employers, across the Commonwealth and in states. Under the Fair Work Act 2009, the Fair Work Commission creates a national minimum wage and oversees National Employment Standards for fair hours, holidays, parental leave and job security. The FWC also creates modern awards that apply to most sectors of work, numbering 150 in 2024, with minimum pay scales, and better rights for overtime, holidays, paid leave, and superannuation for a pension in retirement. Beyond this floor of rights, trade unions and employers often create enterprise bargaining agreements for better wages and conditions in their workplaces. In 2024, collective agreements covered 15% of employees, while 22% of employees were classified as "casual", meaning that they lose many protections other workers have. Australia's laws on the right to take collective action are among the most restrictive in the developed world, and Australia does not have a general law protecting workers' rights to vote and elect worker directors on corporation boards as do most other wealthy OECD countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States labor law</span> US laws on fair pay and conditions, unions, democracy, equality and security at work

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Trade unions in Malaysia are regulated by the Trade Unions Act of 1959 and the Industrial Relations Act of 1967.

Enterprise bargaining is an Australian term for a form of collective bargaining, in which wages and working conditions are negotiated at the level of the individual organisations, as distinct from sectoral collective bargaining across whole industries. Once established, they are legally binding on employers and employees that are covered by the Enterprise bargaining agreement. An Enterprise Agreement (EA) consists of a collective industrial agreement between either an employer and a trade union acting on behalf of employees or an employer and employees acting for themselves.

<i>Canada Labour Code</i> Canadian employment legislation

The Canada Labour Code is an Act of the Parliament of Canada to consolidate certain statutes respecting labour. The objective of the Code is to facilitate production by controlling strikes & lockouts, occupational safety and health, and some employment standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992</span> United Kingdom legislation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labor relations</span> Study of work and workers

Labor relations or labor studies is a field of study that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In an international context, it is a subfield of labor history that studies the human relations with regard to work in its broadest sense and how this connects to questions of social inequality. It explicitly encompasses unregulated, historical, and non-Western forms of labor. Here, labor relations define "for or with whom one works and under what rules. These rules determine the type of work, type and amount of remuneration, working hours, degrees of physical and psychological strain, as well as the degree of freedom and autonomy associated with the work." More specifically in a North American and strictly modern context, labor relations is the study and practice of managing unionized employment situations. In academia, labor relations is frequently a sub-area within industrial relations, though scholars from many disciplines including economics, sociology, history, law, and political science also study labor unions and labor movements. In practice, labor relations is frequently a subarea within human resource management. Courses in labor relations typically cover labor history, labor law, union organizing, bargaining, contract administration, and important contemporary topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Employment Relations Act 2000</span> Statute of the Parliament of New Zealand

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The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) is a labor union in Pennsylvania that represents about 8,300 nurses and allied health professionals.

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<i>Wilson and Palmer v United Kingdom</i>

Wilson v United Kingdom [2002] ECHR 552 is a United Kingdom labour law and European labour law case concerning discrimination by employers against their workers who join and take action through trade unions. After a long series of appeals through the UK court system, the European Court of Human Rights held that ECHR article 11 protects the fundamental right of people to join a trade union, engage in union related activities and take action as a last resort to protect their interests.

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References

  1. 1 2 Law, Jonathan (2016). A Dictionary of Business and Management.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Grogan, John (1988). "The Legal Status of Overtime Bans". South African Law Journal. 105 (4): 656.
  3. ↑ Atzeni, Maurizio, editor. (25 November 2013). Workers and labour in a globalised capitalism : contemporary themes and theoretical issues. ISBN   978-0-230-30317-1. OCLC   868997206.{{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Quentin (1973–2000). "Overtime Ban Forces HTV to Reschedule Productions". Broadcast Archive. 2.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Almost a silent night – BBC – Transdiffusion Broadcasting System". www.transdiffusion.org. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  6. 1 2 Tubeworker, "Take Action!" Workers’ Liberty, 3 June 2009
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 “‘First and Strongest’ Overtime Ban Signed into Law. (Northeast)." McKnight's Long-Term Care News 23.2 (2002): n. pag. Print.
  8. 1 2 3 Airline Industry Information, "United Airlines Cancels Flights Due to Overtime ban.(Brief Article)." Airline Industry Information (2000): n. pag. Print.
  9. 1 2 LeRoux, Pak. Overtime Bans as Unfair Labour Practice S. Afr. Mercantile LJ, 2, 67 (1990).
  10. 1 2 3 4 Stokke, Torgeir Aarvaag; Thornqvist, Christer (November 2001). "Strikes and Collective Bargaining in the Nordic Countries". European Journal of Industrial Relations. 7 (3): 245–267. doi:10.1177/095968010173002. ISSN   0959-6801. S2CID   154352544.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pack light: Overtime ban to slow baggage handling at Helsinki-Vantaa airport". Yle Uutiset. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gall, Gregor (March 1993). "Industrial relations in UK clearing banks: a comment on Cressey and Scott". New Technology, Work and Employment. 8 (1): 67–71. doi:10.1111/j.1468-005x.1993.tb00035.x. ISSN   0268-1072.
  13. 1 2 3 Fair Work Ombudsman. Industrial Action. Australian Government, July 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Cockfield, Sandra (2007). "Mobilising at the Workplace: State Regulation and Collective Action in Three Workplaces, 1900 to the 1920s". Labour History (93): 35–55. doi:10.2307/27516226. ISSN   0023-6942. JSTOR   27516226.
  15. 1 2 Wall, Martin. "'It is not on': Harris criticises psychiatric nurses for overtime ban". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  16. 1 2 correspondent, Gwyn Topham Transport (9 December 2016). "Sadiq Khan: government 'abandoning passengers' on Southern rail". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 12 June 2020.
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