Enforcing collectively agreed contract terms in the civil courts

Unions often use the civil courts to enforce collectively agreed contract terms. As explained in Chapter 6, collective agreements are not directly enforceable by the union against the employer (section 179 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992). To enforce a collective term, it must have been incorporated by reference into the individual employee’s employment contract. In practice, to enforce a collectively agreed contract term, a small group of members must step forward to act as claimants in the legal action, backed by the legal and financial resources of the union. The results of the claim will affect all the workers whose contracts contain the collectively agreed term.