Time off: Parliamentary lobby not a trade union activity

In Luce v London Borough of Bexley the EAT holds that "trade union activities" should be broadly defined for the purposes of s.28 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978. However, the construction of the phrase is limited to the extent that such activity must be linked with the employment relationship between the employer and employee in question. The EAT therefore holds that an industrial tribunal was entitled to find that, in the circumstances of this case, lobbying of Parliament was not a trade union activity entitling union members to time off.