The Court held that the failure was minimal and unlikely to affect the outcome of the ballot. The failure was due to a discrepancy that was rectified before the closure of the ballot and affected only two members. In P v National Union of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers IRLR 532, (Word 38Kb) the Court of Appeal rejected the complaint raised by P that the union had not correctly followed the balloting procedures by failing to send the ballot papers to all their affected members. If there is an accidental failure to comply with the requirement on a scale 'unlikely to affect the result of the ballot' (TULR(C)A s.232(B)), that failure can be disregarded. However, TULR(C)A does provide an exception to this requirement. The ballot was therefore found to be invalid and the injunction preventing industrial action upheld. Secondly, the union failed to properly inform the employer and the union members of a union policy to exclude from the ballot any members who were in arrears of their contributions. Firstly, it did not take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that they held the correct information regarding their members' jobs and grades. For example, in RMT v Midland Mainline Ltd IRLR 813, the Court of Appeal held that the union failed to comply with the requirement on two counts. If the union fails to do everything that is reasonably practicable to ensure the correct workers take part in the ballot, the courts may declare the ballot invalid. For a ballot to be considered valid, entitlement to vote must be 'accorded equally to all members of the trade union who it is reasonable at the time of the ballot for the union to believe will be induced by the union to take part, or as the case may be, to continue to take part in the industrial action in question, and to no others ('Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A s.227). Entitlement to voteĪll and only those workers who are going to be called upon to take industrial action must be included in the ballot. Set out below are the requirements that must be met by trade unions conducting an industrial action ballot. ![]() ![]() Legislation in this area is supplemented by the Code of Practice: Industrial action ballots and notice to employers updated by the Secretary of State in March 2017 which, although without legal force, can be taken into account in any court proceedings. ![]() Further in the case of important public services, at least 40 per cent of those eligible to vote must have voted to support the action. Only where such a ballot produces a majority in favour of industrial action and at least 50 per cent of those eligible to vote have voted will the action be lawful. To achieve this, the law requires that there is a ballot of employees in accordance with strict legal requirements, before industrial action is called for or endorsed.
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