Picket location 



If workers cannot picket immediately in front of their workplace, the requirement in section 220A, TULRCA for the picket to be “at or near” their place of work allows some leeway:


The Picketing Code suggests that “at or near” means “at, or near an entrance to or exit from the factory site or office at which the picket works” and that “picketing should be confined to a location, or locations, as near as practicable to the place of work” (Code, para 22).



Union officials elected or appointed to represent striking members can also picket their members’ workplace.



Members who normally work from multiple locations (for example mobile workers like lorry drivers or field engineers) can lawfully picket any place from which they work, or the place from which their work is “administered”, which would normally be their work head office (section 220(2), TULRCA). A picket supervisor who is “readily contactable” by the police and who meets the other requirements set out above will be needed.



Merely “occasional ports of call” were not regarded as the individual’s place of work in the case of Union Traffic v TGWU [1989] IRLR 127.



Someone who is dismissed while on strike has a continuing right to picket lawfully at their former place of work (section 220(3), TULRCA).




The law does not protect anyone who pickets without permission on or inside any part of premises (including in the open air) which are private property. This would be trespass, and can result in civil court claims. A growing number of spaces to which the public has free access are in fact privately owned.



Secondary picketing (picketing at a workplace which is not the member’s place of work) is not protected by the immunities. Secondary picketing is unlawful, and those who engage in it are not protected from unfair dismissal. It is not allowed even If workers at the other workplace share the same employer, or are covered by the same collective bargaining agreement.



The law does not state how many can picket. It is for the police to decide whether to limit the number of pickets in any one place if they have reasonable concern that there could be a breach of the peace. Often police try to limit the number on any picket line to six, but they should issue a warning to this effect. This figure comes from the Picketing Code of Practice (see Code, section E, para 56). 



During consultation, the government originally said that the updated Picketing Code would include guidance on misuse of social media during strikes. In the end, the revised Code said nothing on this topic.