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On 15 July 2015, the Government published a draft Trade Union Bill which sets out changes to tighten the law on industrial action.

What is the current position?

There is no general right to take industrial action under UK law. In most cases, employees taking industrial action will be acting unlawfully since by doing so, they will be acting in breach of their contracts of employment. A trade union calling for industrial action will therefore be inducing such breaches.

However, under current legislation, provided statutory conditions are met, employers are unable to sue trade unions for inducement and certain other torts, or to dismiss employees fairly for taking industrial action.

Much of the legislation regulating industrial action was introduced in the 1980s by the then -Conservative Government. The current provisions are now contained in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (“TULRCA”). These provisions are complex.

Continue Reading Trade Union Bill Published

Welcome to Reed Smith’s Monthly Global Employment Law blog post. This month’s post covers the legality of employee strikes in five key jurisdictions: France, Germany, Hong Kong, the UK and the United States.

France

According to the French Supreme Court, a lawful strike action is defined as a collective cessation of work, the purpose of which is to support professional claims. In the private sector, the right to strike, as a constitutional right, cannot be restricted or regulated by a collective agreement or by the employer itself. There is thus no obligation to comply with a specific notice period prior to going on strike. Employees, however, must inform the employer of their claims at the time they decide to stop working and go on strike.

Employment contracts are suspended during the strike (i.e., the employees do not perform their duties and the employer does not pay them). Employees on strike are protected against any disciplinary sanctions, including dismissals in the sense that any sanctions that may be imposed where there is lawful strike action are deemed to be null and void. This protection does not apply when the strike is unlawful (i.e., the action does not support professional claims or where the employees on strike prevent non-strikers from working).

The majority of strike actions are usually settled without having to commence legal action before the courts.

Germany

In Germany, a strike is the typical industrial action on the part of the employees and trade unions. To be legal, a strike must meet certain formal requirements and pursue a legitimate purpose. Formally, a strike must be (i) organised by a trade union; and (ii) called following a strike vote conducted according to democratic principles. Therefore, a so-called “wildcat” strike, which is not organised by a trade union, is illegal. Any strike must pursue a legal purpose, which can only be to change working conditions. Furthermore, a strike must be conducted in a reasonable and lawful manner. Therefore, the union may not occupy the premises, call on customers of the employer to boycott the product, or prevent employees willing to work from entering the premises and working.

Continue Reading The legality of employee strike action

This post was also written by Carl De Cicco and Amber M. Spataro.

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