MOVES to ‘soften’ the Employment Relations Law have been proposed by the committee responsible for it and the Deputy who stopped its debate in the States.

Employment and Social Security and Deputy Geoff Southern have both lodged amendments to the controversial law which unions said would restrict their ability to represent members.

Its debate was stalled in the States last month when Deputy Southern persuaded Members to refer it back to the committee, after a public demonstration which saw around 1,000 union members gather in the Royal Square in protest.

The Employment Relations (Jersey) Law 200- officially recognises unions, creates an official register for them and sets out a system for resolving disputes.

The dispute system is contained within codes of practice lodged separately to the main law this week.

Both States Members and unions had expressed doubts about debating the law before they saw the codes of practice, which was one of the reasons Deputy Southern’s reference back motion in the States was approved.

Deputy Southern said the amendment by the committee had gone some way to soothe reservations about the proposed law, but that there were still areas that would not meet the stated aim of creating ‘fairness in the workplace’.