Poultry giant Avara Foods has revamped its employee relations framework with the appointment of a first ever Regional Colleague Council.
The supplier said the council’s first meeting took place today at its Hereford processing plant – where nine colleagues, including six employee representatives, two managers and a representative from a recognised trade union, met for the first time.
Avara hopes to roll out the council structure across other regions over the coming weeks, following the example of Hereford. This “new approach” would give employees paid by the hour “a stronger voice” within the business and a “greater say in key negotiations”, it claimed.
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.
These councils formed “an integral part” of Avara’s approach to collective responsibility, where, alongside company management, they would “negotiate and work in good faith towards agreements on matters of pay, terms and conditions, with accepted joint responsibility for the outcomes”, the supplier said.
The “pioneering approach” built on previous union agreements and was said to mark the first time the company had 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 effectively.
“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,” said Andrew Brodie, people director at the supplier.
“Our workforce has changed dramatically over the years, so it makes sense to modernise our practices to meet their needs,” he added.
“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 1,400 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.
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