Industrial action: Dispute about employment with future employer not a "trade dispute"

A dispute in relation to an employer's failure to agree with an unidentified future employer of some of its employees that both they and others subsequently employed by the new employer should be guaranteed their existing terms and conditions of employment was not a "trade dispute", holds the Court of Appeal in University College London Hospital NHS Trust v Unison 13.10.98 Court of Appeal. The statutory definition is not apt to cover the terms and conditions of a non-existent contract of employment with a potential employer, although protection from liability in tort does extend to disputes between workers and their current employers about future terms and conditions of employment.