Trade Unions

As we enter into a period of uncertainty and with the oncoming General Election, with the possibility of a change in Government, many employers will be casting there minds back to the ‘bad old days’ of disharmony and strikes.

When we had a Conservative Government and Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, it was an every day occurrence to see the News referring to the miners Strike and Secondary Strike Action.

Trade Unions have been around for a long time but it was the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act (TULRA) 1974 which gave them real power.  This was further enhanced by the Employment Relations Act 1999 which gave Trade Unions the power to protect participants in industrial action and request that the company recognises the Trade Union for bargaining purposes.

So, what rights do Trade Unions have?

A few of them are:

• When an employee is an official of the Trade Union recognised by the employer they are entitled to reasonable paid time off during working hours.
• The right to strike (if employees take unofficial strike action it can be deemed as a breach of contract, however there was a recent case were an employer dismissed 900 employees because of this and had to reinstate them all).
• The right to accompany another employee at disciplinary/grievance hearings.
• The right to be consulted with on proposed redundancies.

Employers need to be aware that an employee, irrespective of whether or not they are members of a Trade Union or, indeed, irrespective of whether the company recognizes a Trade Union, has the right to be accompanied at a disciplinary hearing/grievance hearing or an appeal hearing by a trade union official.

A complicated issue with respect to Trade Unions can be when the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 are in force.  This is because following the transfer of the employee(s), if those employees were part of a recognised bargaining unit, that right transfers over and the new employer will have to abide by all that it contains.

Should you have any thing to fear?

It is true in some sectors that the Trade Union movement appears to be on the increase with strikes already being undertaken by Trade Unions such as: RMT(railways and transportation) Unite and Unison(Public Sector Areas).  Could there be more to come?