The first Regional Colleague Council has met today at Avara Foods, where employees have been given a greater say in key negotiations at the company.
The first Regional Colleague Council took place in Hereford, where nine colleagues including six employee representatives, two managers and a representative from the recognised union, met for the first time. This is the launch of a new approach at Avara, giving employees that are paid by the hour a stronger voice within the business.
This is one of four new Regional Colleague Councils, covering all Avara’s processing and agricultural facilities. As well as sharing business-relevant information, the Regional Colleague Councils will consult on key topics, including work practices, training, pensions, policies and health and safety matters. Avara said it would negotiate and work in good faith towards agreements on matters of pay, terms and conditions, with accepted joint responsibility for the outcomes.
This pioneering approach is a development on previous union agreements and marks the first time that Avara has directly included employee representatives in a collective process alongside managers and unions. Employee representatives have all been nominated and seconded, and all Avara council-members have undertaken training to help them fulfil their responsibilities as effectively as possible.
Andrew Brodie, people director at Avara, said: “We want everyone to have a voice at Avara, for colleagues to be truly represented and for those representatives to reflect our culture and diverse workforce of over 60 nationalities. Our workforce has changed dramatically over the years it makes sense to modernise our practices to meet their needs. In the past we’ve been in a position where most people at Avara are not directly represented in discussions on important subjects. That didn’t feel fair, and colleagues told us so. What’s particularly pleasing is that the elected representatives were voted in by almost 1400 colleague votes, a staggering total that reflects the support for this new approach across Avara.”
The councils have places allocated to representatives from the workforce, management and the recognised union at that particular location, with the number of seats proportionate to the number of colleagues represented. The remaining council will be meeting over the coming the weeks.