A Union’s immunity from action was not lost where employees who had joined the company after the strike ballot had been completed, were encouraged by the union to join in the strike. The constituency defined in section 227(1) must include all members whom it is reasonable for the union to believe will be induced to take part in the industrial action and it must not include any others: ‘If the union intends to call out signalmen but not train drivers, the signalmen must be balloted; the train drivers must not’.
Millett LJ said: ‘ Parliament’s object in introducing the democratic requirement of a secret ballot is not to make life more difficult for trade unions by putting further obstacles in their way before they can call for industrial action with impunity, but to ensure that such action should have the genuine support of the members who are called upon to take part. The requirement has not been imposed for the protection of the employer or the public, but for the protection of the union’s own members . . It would be astonishing if a right which was first conferred by Parliament in 1906, which has been enjoyed by trade unions ever since and which is today recognised as encompassing a fundamental human right, should have been removed by Parliament by enacting a series of provisions intended to strengthen industrial democracy and governing the relations between a union and its own members.’
Judges:
Millett LJ
Citations:
Ind Summary 30-Oct-1995, Times 09-Oct-1995, [1996] ICR 170, [1995] IRLR 636
Statutes:
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 219 227(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – In re P (a minor by his mother and litigation friend); P v National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers HL 27-Feb-2003
The pupil had been excluded from school but then ordered to be re-instated. The teachers, through their union, refused to teach him claiming that he was disruptive. The claimant appealed a refusal of an injunction. The injunction had been refused on . .
Cited – Metrobus Ltd v Unite the Union CA 31-Jul-2009
The union sought leave to appeal against an interim injunction restraining it from calling a strike. It now called in aid also its members’ Article 11 Human Rights. The company had questioned whether the ballot met the requirements of the 1992 Act. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.83178
