LRD guides and handbook May 2019

Law at Work 2019 - the trade union guide to employment law

Chapter 5

Derecognition 





[ch 5: page 147]

Where recognition was wholly voluntary (that is, agreed without using the statutory recognition procedure at any stage), no formal statutory mechanism or procedure is needed for an employer to derecognise a union, and there is no set timescale. (For workers to achieve derecognition of the employer's chosen union is far more complicated — see box below.) 




Where recognition was achieved by the union using the statutory recognition procedure, the legislation sets out circumstances in which an employer or workers can apply to the CAC to formally derecognise a union. 





Where the employer’s chosen union has no Certificate of Independence, any worker in the bargaining unit of that union can apply to the CAC to initiate formal statutory derecognition. Only a worker can make the application, not a union. 2018 saw the first ever formal derecognition ballot, initiated by six Boots pharmacists with the support of the independent Pharmacists Defence Association Union (PDAU) — see box below. 


https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/671337/Part_IV___V_Guide__December_2017_.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/364873/Part_VI_Guide__July_2009_.pdf