Union membership contract

A county court has held that a union guidance document, which stated that a member has the right to be represented by the union, can amount to a contractual term between the member and the union. This gives the member a qualified right to representation, unless in all the circumstances it would be unreasonable.

The ruling means that unions will need to check their rulebooks and any guides produced for members if they don't want to give such an open-ended right to representation.

(English v Unison)