Union loses protective awards case

If an employer fails to consult over redundancies, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled, a trade union can claim protective awards only for employees for whom it is recognised.

When the T&G general union brought such a claim against tooling firm Brauer Coley, it argued that the tribunal should make awards in respect of all the staff made redundant at the same time, and not just those in the section where the union was recognised.

But the tribunal said the other employees (or their reps) had to bring their own claims, under sections 188 and 189 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

The EAT has now upheld the tribunal's ruling, but said it hoped the Department of Trade and Industry (which has to pay the protective awards, as the company is now in administration) would extend them to the five non-unionised employees.

Transport & General Workers Union v Brauer Coley Ltd UKEAT/0313/06