Act of Parliament | |
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Long title | An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to collective labour relations, that is to say, to trade unions, employers’ associations, industrial relations and industrial action. |
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Citation | 1992 c. 52 |
Introduced by | Lord Mackay of Clashfern, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (Lords) |
Territorial extent | England and Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 16 July 1992 |
Other legislation | |
Repeals/revokes | |
Amended by | Seafarers (Transnational Information and Consultation, Collective Redundancies and Insolvency Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/26) |
Status: Amended | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Text of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (c. 52) is a UK Act of Parliament which regulates United Kingdom labour law. The act applies in full in England and Wales and in Scotland, and partially in Northern Ireland. [1]
The law contained in the act (TULRCA 1992) has existed in more or less the same form since the Trade Disputes Act 1906. Underneath a mass of detail, four main principles can be found in the main parts of the act. The act's effect is to
The 1992 Act was a major recodification of Acts passed since 1980 that had reduced the freedom of workers to organise, collectively bargain, and take collective action. [2] Before 1979, the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974 had set the basic structure, which had itself reversed the major overhaul of the Industrial Relations Act 1971. Each new piece of legislation tightened regulation of trade union activity, and expanded employer power.
By contrast, the historical regulation of unions by Parliament had been expansive, in contrast to the courts, beginning with the Trade Union Act 1871. After a number of cases imposing economic torts for unions taking action, the Trade Disputes Act 1906 confirmed that unions should be free to conduct collective bargaining without the interference of the judiciary.
Chapter I, sections 1 to 9, outlines the meaning of independent trade unions. Chapter II, sections 10 to 23, elaborates on the legal status of trade unions and their rights and duties in possessing property and being sued in court. Chapter III, sections 24 to 45, concern internal administration requirements of a union, such as the duty to make accounts and get audits, and the duty to supply a copy of the rule book to any person for a reasonable price. [3] Chapter IV, sections 46 to 56A, involves the procedures for union representatives to be elected. Chapter V, sections 62 to 70, sets out the rights of trade union members to a ballot before any strikes, access to courts, disciplinary procedures, subscriptions and leaving the union. Chapters VI to VIIA, sections 71 to 108C, involve rules restricting the donation of union funds for political purposes and the payment of contributions to a union. Chapter IX, sections 117 to 121, is a number of miscellaneous provisions and definitions.
Part II consists of a single section 122, which defines the term "employer association".
Sections 137 to 177 detail the rights that a person has when participating in union activities.
It bans agreements or terms in employment contracts which require, prohibit, or discriminate on the basis of union membership (i.e. requiring open shops).
Chapter I, sections 178 to 187, involves the ground rules for collective bargaining. Section 179 provides that a collective agreement is deemed to be not legally enforceable unless it is in writing and contains an explicit provision asserting that it should be legally enforceable. This reflects the tradition in British industrial relations policy of legal abstentionism from workplace disputes.
Section 186 states that a trade union recognition requirement in a contract for the supply of goods or services is void. This clause was added to the bill in the House of Lords in response to local authority practices, specifically in East Kilbride District Council, obliging their contractors to recognise and negotiate with trade unions. [4]
Chapter II, sections 188 to 196 sets out the procedures that an employer must follow if there are known to be a possibility of many redundancies in the workplace. The duty of an employer is to inform and consult with the union (or if there is no union, elected representatives of the employees) with a view to minimising potential redundancies and ameliorating the effects on the workforce. The duty to consult arises at a minimum of 90 days before the redundancies are contemplated, if there would be over 100 employees dismissed. If the number is under 100, but over 20, then the employer must begin consultations 30 days before. There is no duty for collective consultation if the number of redundancies would be under 20 people, though an employer will still be bound by provisions in the employees' individual contracts, and the duty to give reasonable notice in ERA 1996 section 86. If redundancies are unforeseeable, when consultation could not be reasonably done in time, then section 188(7) absolves the employer of the need to pay compensation. Otherwise, failure to properly consult means the employer must pay one week's wages to each employee for each week missed.
Chapters III and IV, sections 199 to 218, set out the functions of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) and its power to issue codes of practice.
Part V, sections 219 to 246, contain the central rules regarding the ability of trade unions to organise and take part in industrial action, including strike action. These rules are interpreted in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights article 11 which protects the freedom of association, which is itself inspired by the predecessors to TULRCA 1992 in the United Kingdom.
Section 219 contains out the historical immunity of trade unions to support their ability to be involved in collective bargaining, that have existed since the Trade Disputes Act 1906. Section 219 states that a trade union is not liable to an employer or other party for economic loss which may be caused "in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute".
Section 224 places a prohibition on secondary strike action.
Sections 226 to 235 contain the requirements of a union to conduct a ballot and give notice to the employer of any industrial action that is agreed upon. Section 226 requires that there is a ballot, unless, according to section 226C there are under 50 workers entitled to vote. Under section 226A, a sample ballot paper must be given to the employer 3 days before the vote takes place and 7 days notice must be given, with information on which employees are taking part in the vote. Section 226B requires that the vote may be scrutinised, and any costs for this must be to be paid for by union (cf ERA 1999 s 228A). The vote must be equal, [5] there must be separate ballots for each workplace establishment [6] and the question put to members about industrial action must be framed in a simple "yes" or "no" fashion. [7] Moreover, section 229(4) requires the union to tell the workforce that any industrial action potentially infringes their contracts of employment, but also that they will be protected by unfair dismissal law. Employers do not pay for the costs, so unions themselves must pay for the cost of the ballot [8] and any outcome must be immediately publicised. [9]
A potential, and dangerous pitfall, is that if a vote involves procedural defect, it is at risk of being invalidated. This is so if any member is denied the vote, though small accidental failures may be disregarded. [10] A person must be specified in advance to announce the ballot results, and unions may not endorse any result of the vote until that has happened. The ballot only gives four weeks' to the union to take action, though this period may be extended with the employers' consent, which is common if collective negotiations are ongoing. [11] If all else has failed, then for industrial action to commence the union must under section 234A(4) give at least seven days notice, accompanied with details of the workers to take part.
Part VI, sections 247 to 272, contain administrative provisions relating to ACAS and the Central Arbitration Committee.
Section 220 protects workers taking part in industrial action, including picketers who are acting in connection with an industrial dispute at or near their workplace who are using their picketing to peacefully obtain or communicate information or peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working. [12]
Part VII, sections 273 to 299 contains miscellaneous provisions and definitions. Some types of employment which are exempted from all or part of the Acts, including the Armed forces, Police, sailors, and those employed abroad.
Section 295 contains the meaning of "employee" as a person with a "contract of service" and section 296 states a "worker" is someone with a contract to personally perform work who is not a professional client.
Schedule A1 sets out a complicated and detailed procedure for statutory recognition of a trade union by an employer. This was introduced by the Employment Relations Act 1999 section 1 and Schedule 1. The recognition procedure is triggered where unions represent over half of employees or particular groups of employees in a workplace. [13]
Labour laws, labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, employer, and union.
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes. Central to the act was a ban on company unions. The act was written by Senator Robert F. Wagner, passed by the 74th United States Congress, and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike and industrial action in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. As striking became a more common practice, governments were often pushed to act. When government intervention occurred, it was rarely neutral or amicable. Early strikes were often deemed unlawful conspiracies or anti-competitive cartel action and many were subject to massive legal repression by state police, federal military power, and federal courts. Many Western nations legalized striking under certain conditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. A collective agreement reached by these negotiations functions as a labour contract between an employer and one or more unions, and typically establishes terms regarding wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms, and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs. Such agreements can also include 'productivity bargaining' in which workers agree to changes to working practices in return for higher pay or greater job security.
United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK have a minimum set of employment rights, from Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity. This includes the right to a minimum wage of £11.44 for over-23-year-olds from April 2023 under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The Working Time Regulations 1998 give the right to 28 days paid holidays, breaks from work, and attempt to limit long working hours. The Employment Rights Act 1996 gives the right to leave for child care, and the right to request flexible working patterns. The Pensions Act 2008 gives the right to be automatically enrolled in a basic occupational pension, whose funds must be protected according to the Pensions Act 1995. Workers must be able to vote for trustees of their occupational pensions under the Pensions Act 2004. In some enterprises, such as universities or NHS foundation trusts, staff can vote for the directors of the organisation. In enterprises with over 50 staff, workers must be negotiated with, with a view to agreement on any contract or workplace organisation changes, major economic developments or difficulties. The UK Corporate Governance Code recommends worker involvement in voting for a listed company's board of directors but does not yet follow international standards in protecting the right to vote in law. Collective bargaining, between democratically organised trade unions and the enterprise's management, has been seen as a "single channel" for individual workers to counteract the employer's abuse of power when it dismisses staff or fix the terms of work. Collective agreements are ultimately backed up by a trade union's right to strike: a fundamental requirement of democratic society in international law. Under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 strike action is protected when it is "in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute".
Australian labour law sets the rights of working people, the role of trade unions, and democracy at work, and the duties of employers, across the Commonwealth and in states. Under the Fair Work Act 2009, the Fair Work Commission creates a national minimum wage and oversees National Employment Standards for fair hours, holidays, parental leave and job security. The FWC also creates modern awards that apply to most sectors of work, numbering 150 in 2024, with minimum pay scales, and better rights for overtime, holidays, paid leave, and superannuation for a pension in retirement. Beyond this floor of rights, trade unions and employers often create enterprise bargaining agreements for better wages and conditions in their workplaces. In 2024, collective agreements covered 15% of employees, while 22% of employees were classified as "casual", meaning that they lose many protections other workers have. Australia's laws on the right to take collective action are among the most restrictive in the developed world, and Australia does not have a general law protecting workers' rights to vote and elect worker directors on corporation boards as do most other wealthy OECD countries.
Trade unions in Malaysia are regulated by the Trade Unions Act of 1959 and the Industrial Relations Act of 1967.
Picketing is a form of protest in which people congregate outside a place of work or location where an event is taking place. Often, this is done in an attempt to dissuade others from going in, but it can also be done to draw public attention to a cause. Picketers normally endeavor to be non-violent. It can have a number of aims but is generally to put pressure on the party targeted to meet particular demands or cease operations. This pressure is achieved by harming the business through loss of customers and negative publicity, or by discouraging or preventing workers or customers from entering the site and thereby preventing the business from operating normally.
The Canada Labour Code is an Act of the Parliament of Canada to consolidate certain statutes respecting labour. The objective of the Code is to facilitate production by controlling strikes & lockouts, occupational safety and health, and some employment standards.
The Employment Relations Act 1999 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made significant amendments in UK labour law to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Overtime bans are a type of strike in which workers refuse to engage in overtime work, being any work that falls outside of contracted hours. They do this to leverage their employer into negotiating various working conditions. Often organised in unions, workers may choose this form of industrial action to bargain for a higher rate of pay, better working conditions or to discourage an employer from making redundancies. Unlike a full strike in which employees are usually in breach of their contract, workers engaging in overtime bans are typically well protected. Employers cannot legally withhold normal wages during an overtime ban if employees are not breaching the terms of their employment contracts by refusing to do overtime work. However, the legalities of overtime bans do vary between countries. Overtime bans are effective where "industries and organisations run on such habitually high levels of overtime or goodwill that overtime bans ... can have a significant and immediate impact upon the availability of a good or service". Historically, unions have at times received criticism on ethical grounds for choosing to enact overtime bans. The literature records the occurrence of such bans from the 1800s and there is documentation of their use in four continents.
The Employment Act 1982 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, mainly relating to trade unions. It increased compensation for those dismissed because of the closed shop and restricted the immunities enjoyed by trade unions.
The New Zealand Employment Relations Act 2000 is a statute of the Parliament of New Zealand. It was substantially amended by the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2001 and by the ERAA 2004.
The Blue Eagle at Work: Reclaiming Democratic Rights in the American Workplace is a legal treatise written by Charles J. Morris which analyzes collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal statute governing most private sector labor relations in the United States. Published in 2005 by Cornell University Press, the text claims that the NLRA guarantees that employees under that Act have the right to bargain collectively through minority unions—but only on a members-only basis—in workplaces where there is not an established majority union, notwithstanding that the present practice and general understanding of the law is that only majority-union employees are entitled to engage in collective bargaining on an exclusivity basis. Contracts resulting from such minority-union bargaining would apply to union members only, not to other employees.
Wilson v United Kingdom [2002] ECHR 552 is a United Kingdom labour law and European labour law case concerning discrimination by employers against their workers who join and take action through trade unions. After a long series of appeals through the UK court system, the European Court of Human Rights held that ECHR article 11 protects the fundamental right of people to join a trade union, engage in union related activities and take action as a last resort to protect their interests.
Collective action in the United Kingdom including the right to strike in UK labour law is the main support for collective bargaining. Although the right to strike has attained the status, since 1906, of a fundamental human right, protected in domestic case law, statute, the European Convention on Human Rights and international law, the rules in statute have generated significant litigation. The "right of workers to engage in a strike or other industrial action" is expressly recognised in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 section 180, and has been recognised repeatedly by the Court of Appeal as "a fundamental human right"., and the House of Lords.
South African labour law regulates the relationship between employers, employees and trade unions in the Republic of South Africa.
The Fair Work Act 2009(Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, passed by the Rudd government to reform the industrial relations system of Australia. It replaced the Howard government's WorkChoices legislation, it established Fair Work Australia, later renamed the Fair Work Commission.
The Trade Union Act 2016 is an Act of Parliament that amended the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. It forms part of the UK's labour law. Passed during the second Cameron ministry, it was fiercely opposed by all UK trade unions. Alan Bogg, professor of labour law at the University of Oxford, described the act as authoritarian.
London Underground Ltd v National Union of Railwaymen, Maritime and Transport Staff [1996] ICR 170 is a UK labour law case, concerning the right to strike.