Is it normal for consultative committee to have to sign confidentiality agreement?

Glasgowkiss84

We are currently in our 90 consultation period. This began when our management met our consultative committee (no union). Our committee members were told they had to sign a confidentiality agreement, and have been unable to tell us anything specific about discussions. Is this normal?

Thanks in advance,

GK

Andy_L

Yes.
During the consultation both sides need to be able to suggest any "crazy & wacky" ideas which, if reported might be taken as "firm commitments".
If it was a union team it might not be needed as they understand what can & can't be reported and how to word things, since its a lay team that may not be the case

Pete111

News to me Andy - whenever I have run consultations with staff reps the meetings are minuted and made available to the staff body to ensure transparency...

Admittedly I have only run a few of these so am happy to be corrected on standard practice but it does seem to go against the principle of collective consultation to have part of it deemed secret.

P

dickydonkin

Pete111 wrote: »

News to me Andy - whenever I have run consultations with staff reps the meetings are minuted and made available to the staff body to ensure transparency...

Admittedly I have only run a few of these so am happy to be corrected on standard practice but it does seem to go against the principle of collective consultation to have part of it deemed secret.

P

And me!

The whole point of consultations - in particular where representatives are acting on behalf of a collective group is to communicate and inform the affected people what is going on. If such information is not forthcoming and made available -what is the point of having meaningful consultations?

As pete111 alluded to, such meetings should be minuted by both parties and another meeting should be held as soon as practicable with the affected employees after a consultation hearing has concluded.

I would be asking as to why a confidentiality agreement has to be signed.
Transparency is vital in redundancy situations - stifling the representatives seems a bit suspicious to me.

Andy_L

So, sometimes it happens & sometimes not. If there is one then, as Pete111 says, then there should still be minutes, briefings etc published & not total silence until its finished.

Glasgowkiss84

Thanks for your replies. We have had the first set of minutes, but they were very stifled. Certainly more was discussed than is on the minutes.

They will now be having conference calls instead of face to face meetings. Unofficially we understand things like the number of jobs available etc have been decided, and communicated to other area's of the business, but we have not officially been communicated this. In fact they have stated elsewhere they have not decided final figures.

jazzyman01

You could challenge the minutes as a group and ask that they reflect the whole of the discussion. If you have been advised that numbers have been agreed you should, as a group, request confirmation from the Company. It is part of the consultation process.