The bargaining unit

When making a formal application, the union must identify the bargaining unit for which it seeks recognition. This is the group of workers it wants to represent through collective bargaining. It is important to choose carefully, especially as the outcome of any eventual ballot (see page 186) can hang on who is, or is not, included. The CAC needs to be satisfied that a proposed bargaining unit, if contested, is “compatible with effective management” (section 19B (1), TULRCA). A union’s proposed bargaining unit need not be the most effective unit of organisation, as long as it is not ineffective. If the employer successfully challenges the union’s preferred bargaining unit, the CAC can impose a different one. At this stage, the union may decide to withdraw its application. In Lidl Limited v CAC & Another [2017] IRLR 646, the Court of Appeal said that courts must be “very cautious” to interfere with a CAC decision as to the appropriate bargaining unit and that such challenges should be “strongly discouraged”, because the CAC is the expert here.