A number of employers told PrintWeek last week that they were pleased by a consultation into changes, which, if implemented, would extend the qualifying period for unfair dismissal to two years and deal with weaker cases in a manner that would be financially economical for the employer.

According to the government, the proposed changes will give employers more confidence to take on new staff, creating more jobs.

However, Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said that extending the qualifying period for unfair dismissal or making it harder for workers to pursue claims at a tribunal would not create jobs and could lead to an increase in unemployment.

"When the qualifying period for unfair dismissal was raised to two years by Margaret Thatcher unemployment actually soared," he said. When the Labour government subsequently reduced it to one year, unemployment dropped."

Burke also suggested that claims of increasing employment tribunals, one of the reasons for the consultation, were "disingenuous and misleading".

He pointed out that the vast majority of the 236,000 cases taken in 2009, the most recent official statistics, were multiple claims covering large groups of workers. This represented a 90% increase over the previous year but, according to Burke, the number of individual claims rose only 14% in 2009/10.

"The main reason for claims going to employee tribunal is that some employers do not have proper procedures in place, or simply treat their staff badly," he added.

"Dismissal from a job is a serious matter; the individual concerned will lose their livelihood, their economic and social status and struggle to find a new job if they cannot get a reference."

"If the government is serious about improving matters they should focus on doing more to help employers manage their workers fairly. To propose that an employee will have to wait for two years before they are protected against unfair dismissal will simply encourage bad employment practices."