Collective agreements and union recognition

Collective agreements with a recognised union transfer under regulation 5 of TUPE. They are treated as if they were made with the new employer. Important changes made to TUPE in January 2014 have significantly undermined the legal protection of collectively negotiated contract terms by TUPE. These changes are explained below on pages 496-498.

Under regulation 6 of TUPE, union recognition transfers to the transferee as long as the group of transferring employees retains a distinct identity. Otherwise, the union must negotiate a new recognition agreement with the transferee.

Regulation 6(2)(b), TUPE states that a recognition agreement can be varied or rescinded by the new employer after the transfer without infringing TUPE. Most recognition agreements are voluntary (see Chapter 5: Voluntary recognition).

It is automatically unfair to dismiss or target for redundancy any employee for trying to organise recognition in their new workplace. See Chapter 5: Protection of union members from unfavourable treatment.