Collective employee relations
An "establishment" for the purposes of the EC Collective Redundancies Directive means the unit to which the workers made redundant are assigned to carry out their duties, rules the ECJ in Rockfon A/S v Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark.
A trade union is not required to restrict its call for industrial action to those of its members who were members at the date of the ballot and who were given an opportunity to vote in it, holds the Court of Appeal in London Underground Ltd v National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.
In Ali and others v Christian Salvesen Food Services plc the EAT holds that a contract of employment, which provided that overtime payments would be made only when the employee had worked more than the annualised hours total of 1,824 hours in the working year, contained an implied term entitling the employee, whose employment terminated several months before the end of the working year, to overtime payments in certain circumstances.
British Coal had a statutory obligation to use a review procedure agreed with the trade unions in relation to proposed pit closures, holds the High Court in R v British Coal Corporation and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry ex parte Vardy and others.
In London Ambulance Service v Charlton and others [1992] IRLR 510 EAT, the EAT held that the Industrial Tribunal had not erred in law in holding that the respondent union officials had met the requirements for paid time off under the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act, section 27(1)(a) in respect of their attendance at a meeting of a committee set up by the union to coordinate the activities of its district committees within the London Ambulance Service.
In Union Traffic Ltd v Transport and General Workers' Union and others, the Court of Appeal holds that, in certain circumstances, the mere presence of pickets can constitute an inducement of those seeking to cross the picket line to break their contracts of employment and so be unlawful.
In Institution of Professional Civil Servants and others v Secretary of State for Defence the High Court rejects a complaint by various trade unions that the Secretary of State had not Informed and consulted them about a proposed transfer of two dockyards to commercial management, as required by s.1 of the Dockyard Services Act 1986.
Workers who are on strike, or who, by way of industrial action, refuse to carry out their duties, are not entitled to be paid unless the employer accepts such work as is performed during industrial action as complete performance of the worker's duties. So holds the House of Lords in Miles v Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, rejecting Mr Miles' claim for wages in respect of a period of industrial action.
Many collective agreements state that they are to be "binding in honour only". In Marley v Forward Trust Group Ltd the Court of Appeal holds that this applies between the parties to the agreement, ie the union and employer, and does not affect the legal enforceability of terms of collective agreements which are incorporated into contracts of employment of individuals.
In Transport & General Workers' Union v Ledbury Preserves (1928) Ltd [1985] IRLR 412 EAT, the EAT held that in a potential redundancy situation there must be "sufficient meaningful" consultation before notices of dismissal are sent out.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to collective employee relations.