How will the Employment Rights Act affect trade unions and collective bargaining?

On 10^th October 2024 the Employment Rights Bill 2024 (the Bill) was introduced to Parliament. Some of the changes the Bill proposes revolve around trade unions and collective bargaining. Although we do not know when these changes will come into effect, it is vital that employers familiarise themselves with the proposed changes.

In this article we will solely focus on the proposed changes to trade unions and collective bargaining that have been made in the Bill, and what these proposed changes would mean for employers.

What the Bill proposes?

• Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 (“the 2023 Act”) – Firstly, the Bill proposes to completely repeal the 2023 Act under which employers were able to issue ‘work notices’ to unions and employees in key public services prohibiting certain employees from taking part in a strike and requiring them to work during that time.  

• Repeal of Trade Union Act 2016 – Secondly, the Bill proposes to repeal majority of the Trade Union Act 2016 (“the 2016 Act”) since the Government is of the view that the 2016 Act places unnecessary restrictions on trade unions activity. The Government puts greater emphasis on collective bargaining rights in the Bill. Some of the changes include removal of the strike ballot minimum thresholds with a minimum turnout currently of 50%, advance notice to employers of industrial action will change from 14 days to seven days and many of the procedural requirements for a lawful strike ballot will be removed. Nonetheless, the Bill will retain the six-month ballot mandate expiration date and the independence of the Certification Officer from political control (ministerial direction).

• Right of trade unions to access workplaces – The Bill will give trade unions a new right to access workplaces for the purposes of representing, recruiting or organising workers, and to facilitate collective bargaining. The Bill will provide framework for access agreements between employer and trade unions, which provide a right of access to workplaces for trade unions, provided that they are listed by the Certification Officer.

• Right to statement of trade union rights – Although currently section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires employers to provide workers with a written statement of employment particulars there is no explicit requirement for employers to actively inform their workers of their right to join a trade union. The Bill proposes to impose a legal duty on employers to inform their employees about their right to membership alongside section 1 statement of terms of employment and at other ‘prescribed times’ (which will be set out in regulations).

• Greater rights and protection for trade union representatives – The Bill proposes greater access to facilities and facility time with union workplace representatives being able to take sufficient paid facility time with sufficient access to facilities to enable them to fulfil their union representative duties. In addition, the Bill wishes to strengthen existing rights and protections for individuals taking part in industrial action. As a result, the Bill will remove the 12-week cap resulting in employees being protected regardless of the length of the strike action against unfair dismissal when taking protected industrial action.

• Blacklisting – The Government recognises that rules on blacklisting have not been updated in over a decade. The Bill proposes to update and broaden the scope of The Employment Relations Act 1999 surrounding blacklisting resulting in wider range of people being protected from blacklisting due to trade union membership or activity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that the Bill will simplify the trade union recognition process, and the legal framework will be simplified so that workers have a meaningful right to organise through trade unions. The Bill’s proposals surrounding trade unions also reflect greater emphasis on the need for collective bargaining and its advantages. Nonetheless, employers should be aware that alongside simplified rules it is possible that strike action will be more likely to occur within a unionised workforce thus it is vital that employers are aware of the upcoming changes and will comply with the new rules proposed by the Bill.

Our Peace of Mind Team will keep clients informed of any changes and provide specific advice on new rules or procedures once they take effect. If you have any other questions about the recent proposals made in the Bill, or have any other employment law related questions, please contact our Employment Law team by emailing employment@warnergoodman.co.uk or by calling 023 8071 7717.