This is yet another race to the bottom where workers rights are destroyed in the name of job creation. It is rubbish. What it will do is mean that employee rights are slowing and irrevocably eliminated. Next stop slavery, though many are already wage slaves. Now just need to eliminate the middle classes and the rich and business owners will be happy.

Yeah, I don't agree with that. If one company buys out another, those workers should still have the same rights.

Maybe the way to solve that problem is that workers rights are increased to the level of the higher standard. It might deter some take overs if they find that their target company has really good employee rights and the cost of imposing that through the new enlargered organisation would be prohibative. It would end asset strippers.

Does anyone else think this is just part of some much larger scheme to completely undermine employee rights and privileges? Fair enough, the unions got too big after World War 2, but what is happening now seems set to take employee rights back to pre-World War 1 territory.

"Don't complain you have to work 11 hours a day, six days a week, and you don't get paid overtime or holidays. You've got a job."

This is really worrying me now.

Yes it was started by the Tories last time they were in power, New labour carried on the process. They banned general strikes. In fact with the austerity coming now would be a great time for a general strike.

First off I'm by no means for stripping the working man/woman of their working rights. I've seen through two rounds of redundancy where I am now and think the process was quite fair as it stands (at least how our firm handled it) but I have to say I'm quite against the softly-softly approach of present staff employment law that ties the hands of employers when they want/have to act decisively.

We've some dead weight that I'd cull in a moments notice for the greater good of our company, and yes, they're nice people who should be let down easy, but they've been allowed to coast for too long - and it would be a real advantage if things were easier to put them on the line to either step up their game or move on.

Of course, as it presently stands, I get told "we agree, but it's not as easy as you make out, we'd be taken to the cleaners if we tried" - so a little bit more power to bosses who should/ be able to refine their staff force might be a good thing.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that if you're doing your job well, you shouldn't have to worry. If you're dragging your feet you deserve what's coming to you.

I agree but employers have two years to assess if someone is inept is long enough. Plus if there is dead wood during a recession is a great way to do get rid of that.

People change. Situations change. Someone who was good 5 years ago might easily be out of their depth now as the company and their role have evolved. Someone else might simply have gone to sleep on the job, brain dead and careless after years of tedium.

The environmental issue is especially true in IT. For example, someone who was the greatest ever IPX / SPX networking engineer and could squeeze every last byte out of a DOS machine's 640K a decade ago is now, quite literally, redundant. Those skills are irrelevant in today's market unless you work in a museum. I know a really great guy who retired early in no small part because of this.

Very true but what about retraining that person or making them redundant and saying why ie lack of up to date skills. though considering that it can cost so much to replace or recruits someone they really should plan and ask if anyone wants to learn X language.

I've had no training for years. Why? Because it costs many thousands of pounds. Luckily the vocational qualifications I need to keep the business trading are actually free to obtain, so I've managed to learn what I need from the downloadable resource materials without going on any paid courses. It's not easy though, given how many bloody updates there are and I have to study in my own time. I'm seriously behind, and the most valuable qualification on my CV has expired - that's one I do have to pay for...