FDA union boss Dave Penman has been appointed by ministers at the Department for Business and Trade as a member of the Council of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.
ACAS is an independent public body which supports employers, employees and their representatives with free and impartial advice on employment rights, best practice and policies, and resolving workplace conflict.
It aims to improve working life through better employment relations, by helping employers and employees to solve problems and acting as an arbitrator to resolve issues in the workplace which might otherwise go to an employment tribunal.
The council which governs ACAS is charged with determining the organisation’s strategic direction, policies and priorities. Council members are appointed based on their professional expertise in either business or trade unions.
Penman, who was elected as general secretary of the FDA in May 2012, and was re-elected in 2016 and 2021, told CSW that he is “looking forward to working with ACAS on how they shape the future of industrial relations, building a more progressive partnership approach to help make the world of work a better, more productive place for employees and employers”.
He added: “I applied to be a member of the ACAS Council because I believe in what they do – the importance of arbitration in the workplace. Their dispute resolution aligns well with the FDA’s pragmatic approach to negotiations.”
Penman is joined as a new appointee on the ACAS Council by Nicola Smith, who has been director of policy at the TUC since 2024, having previously been the union’s head of rights, social and economic affairs.
Smith is also a member of the Labour Market Advisory Board, a group of experts advising government on how to tackle labour market inactivity.