LRD guides and handbook November 2021

Disciplinary and grievance procedures - a guide for union reps

Chapter 8

8. Organising around collective issues

[ch 8: page 87]

As noted in Chapter 7, the Acas Code does not apply to collective grievances, which it defines as those raised on behalf of two or more employees by a union or other workplace rep. The Code says that these should be handled in accordance with the organisation’s collective grievance process. That does not mean that unions cannot bring collective grievances, only that the process may be different. It could be, for example, that all collective grievances are heard by an employee relations manager rather than the individuals’ line managers.