Employment Law A-Z - T is for... Trade Union

T is for… Trade Union

According to legislation, the key role of a trade union (whether it be a temporary or permanent organisation) includes ‘the regulation of relations between workers and employers…’. Unions are more common in some industries and can have upwards of one million members.

There has been much talk over the role of unions, and this was the subject of much of the draft Employment Rights Bill, recently published by the Government. For example, one of the proposed measures is a reduction in the required percentage of voters who are union members, as set by secondary legislation, somewhere no less than 2% and no more than 10%. These proposals look to strengthen the position of unions and mean that more employers will have to formally recognise them.