Clyde & Co's UK employment team brings you CABLE, a
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Trade unions
Employer's attempt to bypass a recognised trade
union by negotiating directly with employees amounted to an
unlawful inducement
The employer had been negotiating an improved pay deal in
exchange for employees agreeing to changes to their working hours
through its recognised trade union, UNITE. When those changes were
rejected, the company wrote to employees directly offering the same
package. It made two direct offers to employees, one in December
2015 and one in January 2016.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) confirmed that this attempt
to bypass the recognised trade union by negotiating directly with
individual employees amounted to unlawful inducement contrary to
section 145B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations
(Consolidation) Act 1992. They said that if acceptance of the
direct offers meant that at least one term of
