Collective Agreement in UK Law

It seems to me, first, that the language of the subsection is clear and unambiguous. The concept of common terms and conditions of employment observed generally at different establishments necessarily contemplates terms and conditions applicable to a wide range of employees whose individual terms will vary greatly inter se.

There may be perfectly good geographical or historical reasons why a single employer should operate essentially different employment regimes at different establishments.

On the question of construction, as Mr Brennan acknowledged, where a contract of employment expressly incorporates an instrument such as a collective agreement or staff handbook, it does not necessarily follow that all the provisions in that instrument or document are apt to be terms of the contract.

But, again, that passage needs to be read in the context of the fact that in that case the variation had not yet bitten, and I do not think that the difficulty in identifying the precise moment at which an employee should be treated as first accepting a contractual pay-cut means that the question has to be answered once and for all at the point of implementation.

It is self-evident that any right to be recognised conferred by domestic law will have to be defined by rules which identify which unions should be recognised by which employers in respect of which workers and for what purposes.

So, if I apply the rule by which a term of uncertain meaning is to be construed, that of asking what, objectively considered in the light of the factual matrix against which the agreement was made, the parties must be taken to have intended the provision to mean, I am driven to the conclusion that they did not mean this term to be individually enforceable. I accept that there are pointers towards individual enforceability but these are not conclusive.

To be liable for inducing breach of contract, you must know that you are inducing a breach of contract. It is not enough that you know that you are procuring an act which, as a matter of law or construction of the contract, is a breach. Nor does it matter that you ought reasonably to have done so.