Industrial Relations in UK Law

The statutory immunities are simply the form which the law in this country takes to carve out the ability for unions to take lawful strike action. It is for Parliament to determine how the conflicting interests of employers and unions should be reconciled in the field of industrial relations. In my judgment the legislation should simply be construed in the normal way, without presumptions one way or the other.

But the Industrial Relations Act is of a very different character. It creates rights, as in section 5, but breaches of these rights are not torts—they are only unfair industrial practices. A person alleging an unfair industrial practice cannot bring an action: he can only make a complaint to an Industrial Tribunal. The majority of the members of an Industrial Tribunal are not lawyers. The Tribunal does not give a remedy as of right. Under section 106 it

In my opinion, all the matters of which Mr Johnson complains in these proceedings were within the jurisdiction of the industrial tribunal. His most substantial complaint is of financial loss flowing from his psychiatric injury which he says was a consequence of the unfair manner of his dismissal. Such loss is a consequence of the dismissal which may form the subject-matter of a compensatory award.

By section 207, a failure to comply with any provision of a Code is not in itself actionable but in any proceedings before an industrial tribunal In 1977 ACAS issued a Code of Practice entitled "Disciplinary Practice and Procedures in Employment". It explained why it was important to have disciplinary rules and procedures which were in writing and readily available to management and employees.

Over the last two decades there has been a marked trend towards shielding the employee, where practicable from undue hardships he may suffer at the hands of those who may have power over his livelihood - employers and trade unions. So far has this now progressed and such is the security granted to an employee under the Industrial Relations Act that some have suggested that he may now be said to acquire something akin to a property in his employment.

I would not, however, look for new categories in which to pigeonhole new exceptions to this rule as it works either for the employer or the employee, but I would make exceptions in accordance with the general principleon which discretionary remedies are granted, namely, where, and only where, an injunction is required by justice and equity in a particular case, and, at the interim stage, by the balance of convenience.