Trade dispute must already exist

For a ballot to be valid, the trade dispute must already exist when the ballot is called. For example, the former NUR London Underground workers’ union (now the RMT), lost its protection from the “immunities” by including matters in its ballot which were not yet the subject of an industrial dispute (London Underground v NUR [1989] IRLR 341). This kind of claim is likely to become more frequent with the new requirement under the TUA 16 to provide a “summary” of the dispute on the voting paper (see page 33).