The ballot process

The balloting and notification process includes detailed restrictions, all of which must be complied with in order to retain the union’s statutory “immunity” from liability for economic torts. These rules have been changed in important respects by the TUA 16.

In Metrobus Limited v Unite [2009] IRLR 851, the UK Court of Appeal ruled that the UK’s (pre-TUA 16) restrictive balloting and notice rules were not disproportionate restrictions on the human right to freedom of association (Article 11, European Convention on Human Rights) (see also Chapter 12).