BEERG Bytes

In this episode Tom Hayes looks at the EU's legislative agenda on HR and labour relations as both the EU Parliament and Commission near the end of their 5-year mandates.

Though things will quieten down from April to June 2024, there is plenty on the agenda after that. There is a "third wave" of information and consultation obligations coming, via directives and initiatives on: Platform Workers, AI Liability, Corporate Due Diligence... and more.

In this episode Tom Hayes talks about the coming “third wave” of European Union laws which mandate information and consultation and attempt to promote collective bargaining and ask what challenges they will pose for management.  

This is part 1 of an a two part series of related episodes. Part 2 will be published around June 7th

Today's Knowing Me, Knowing EU comes to you on the day when the European Parliament adopts new rules on binding pay-transparency measures. This is one of the most important recent pieces of social and employment law - and Tom Hayes sets out why companies need to start preparing for this law now. He also discusses the EU Commission's ongoing work to reform the EWC directive and looks at other measures in the EU pipeline such as those on due diligence and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In this episode Tom discusses the EU's planned new AI and Due Diligence laws and their impact on HR/IR decision making. He also explores the risk of EU policy makers being so focused on due diligence requirements that it risks driving investment to places such as the US, where President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act is attracting many US businesses to return home.

In this first Knowing Me, Knowing EU of 2023 Tom Hayes looks at the EU's 2023 legislative program in the area of social policy and employee relations. It will be a hectic year with initiatives on platform works, gender pay, and use of AI in the HR area. These are in addition to the other changes to which HR professionals were becoming accustomed.    

Among the topics explored by Tom Hayes, in this third instalment of BEERG's monthly stream of short podcasts on issues of interest to labour relations professionals, from across the European Union, are:

• Progress in EU moves to increase the number of women on company boards
• EU's plans to legislate on Supply Change Due Diligence; 
• the risks of a creating a work/life balance divide between those who can work from home and those who cannot 
• The flawed assumption underpinning the Radtke proposals for EWC reform   

Welcome to episode 2 of our new monthly stream of short podcasts on issues of interest to labour relations professionals, from across the European Union. 

In today's episode, Tom Hayes discusses the following key issues: 1. The impact of 10%+ inflation on wage demands and labour unrest, 2. Supply Change Due Diligence, 3. The impact of AI on HR systems and demands for great regulation... Tom also touches on UK plans to discontinue 1,000s of pieces of EU legislation and Ireland's plans to make its work from home rules more employee friendly.  

In this episode Tom Hayes chats with Vince Toman and David Hopper of Lewis Silkin LLP about UK legal developments, including the aftermath of the P&O Ferry dispute; the decision in the Tesco “fire and rehire” case, and the government law change to allow companies to bring in agency workers to replace striking employees. They also discuss the now complicated law about “final offers” in collective bargaining and when an employer can go directly to the workforce and wonder if a new Prime Minister might try to make it even more difficult for unions to strike.

In this BEERG Byte Tom Hayes chats with Auret Van Heerden about how companies can meet the due diligence expectations of the supply chain laws in a way that is scalable and affordable.

BEERG's Tom Hayes chats with David Hopper and Vince Toman of Lewis Silkin about the controversy arising for P&O ferries decision to make 800 UK based seafarers redundant.  The discussion was recorded on March 25th one day after a UK Parliamentary committee hearing where MPs took the P&O management to task over their actions and questioned UK ministers on their response, specifically lacunas in the UK’s laws, which the UK government says it will speedily address.

We know Northern Ireland from its troubled past and the current argument over the NI Protocol… but does Northern Ireland have a distinct IR culture? Is that different from the rest of the UK?

What might the Protocol mean for IR in NI? Would NI legislation be very different from that of the UK? What about the Equality Directives? What about Data Adequacy?

Tom is joined by Ciara Fulton of Lewis Silkin LLP and Mark McAllister of the Northern Ireland the Labour Relations Agency, to discuss these issues

Tom Hayes is joined by Auret van Heerden a labour rights expert and founder/CEO of Equiception, a consultancy  specialising in sustainable supply chains, corporate social responsibility and workers’ rights. They discuss the requirement for companies to report what they are doing to prevent modern forms of forced labour and how HR data may be used in conducting remote human rights due diligence. 

As we prepare for the European August holidays… I was going to say shutdown, but shutdown has taken on a new meaning over the past year… I thought it might be useful to try and take stock of the European-level employment and labour relations issues that BEERG member companies will face when we resume in September.

Tom Hayes chats with with Tom Kochan, professor of industrial relations, work and employment, at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In this edition, the two Toms discuss the current state of US industrial relations. They explore whether the system is broken, if it can be fixed and what the future holds for U.S. industrial relations. Recorded May 26th 2021

Tom Hayes chats with with Tom Kochan, professor of industrial relations, work and employment, at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In this edition, the two Toms discuss the current state of US industrial relations. They explore whether the system is broken, if it can be fixed and what the future holds for U.S. industrial relations. Recorded May 26th 2021

Tom Hayes discusses GDPR reform with the EPP's spokesperson on data privacy in the European Parliament, Axel Voss (CDU Germany). Mr Voss will shortly be publishing detailed reforms to update and modernise GDPR to take account of developments in digital technology and to make GDPR less cumbersome for both businesses and citizens. 

Anne Hill believes there has never been a better time for people to get into HR.  Tom Hayes chats with Anne, whose career has spanned 2 continents, 3 industries and working with Fortune 500 companies. They discuss her experience as a senior CHRO and her thoughts on the future for HR.

Tom Hayes examines the critical importance of knowing how to negotiate. He reflects on what he has learned in 50 years as a negotiator, especially what he was taught when starting out as a young trade union official in Dublin. He also analyzes the UK's approach to the Brexit talks as a case study of what not to do. 

Tom chats with german labour lawyer, Dr Buckard Goepfert about the legal right of German trade unions to digitally communicate with members and potential members.  

Tom Hayes chats with Annemarie Muntz, MD Global Public Affairs with Randstad and President of the World Employment Confederation about the future of work with, and after, Covid-19. Annemarie says the future of work is now and that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this evolution, not created it. Recorded in Sept 2020

Tom Hayes discusses how Brexit is going so far with UK trade policy expert David Henig.  

Tom Hayes is joined by Iñigo Sagardoy de Simón from Sagardoy Abogados and Oriol Abello from HP to discuss the Spanish government’s Royal Decree 901/2020 which requires companies with more than 50 employees to draw up and negotiate equality plans.