Is it a trade union at all?



A trade union is an organisation consisting “wholly or mainly of workers…and whose principal purposes include the regulation of relationship between workers…and employers” (section 1(a), TULRCA). In BECTU v City Screen TUR1/309/2003, entertainment union BECTU successfully challenged a sweetheart deal on the basis that the alleged “union” was not a union at all. Cinema chain City Screen had signed an agreement with a body consisting solely of four managers, with no source of funds other than that provided by the company. The CAC held that this was a staff association not a trade union, and that therefore it did not bar BECTU’s recognition claim.




The main purpose of a trade union must be collective, regardless of what other individual services it offers (Parker v Boots Pharmacists Association & Boots Management Services Limited, 16 February 2018, TUR6/003/2017). A body that only offers representation at internal disciplinary hearings cannot be a trade union (Akinosun (on behalf of General and Health Workers Union) v the Certification Officer [2013] UKEAT 0180/13/0507). This case also establishes that the test for whether or not an organisation is a trade union is based on its activities at the date of application to the Certification Officer, not on any planned future activities.