TRADE UNION LEGAL SERVICES*
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1974.tb00004.x |
| Published date | 01 March 1974 |
| Author | Geoff Latta,Roy Lewis |
| Date | 01 March 1974 |
TRADE UNION LEGAL SERVICES*
GEOFF
LATTAt
AND
ROY
LEWIS$
IN
the course of their work on behalf of members, unions often become
involved in the legal process. The aim of this article is to summarize some
of the results
of
a
research project on trade union legal services, and to
suggest some of the implications these may have for the study of both
unions, and the impact of the law on collective bargaining and employ-
ment relations. The study of the organizational response of unions to the
law is essential to any attempt to assess the effect of the increasing degree
of legal intervention. It also raises wider issues connected with union
organization, administration and finance. Moreover this area of union
activity has considerable implications for the direction and nature of
proposed reforms in the legal and social insurance systems,
as
well as
illuminating aspects
of
those systems not often directly studied by lawyers
or social administrators. In this context, for instance, the fact that trade
unions secure over
E20
milIion each year in common law damages for
members injured at work, and that they fight over 10,000 social insurance
appeals
a
year, is clearly relevant.
Most unions are empowered by their rule books to provide legal
assistance to their members in connection with employment problems. In
practice the bulk of this legal workload normally results from industrial
accidents. The union role in relation to accidents embraces advice and
representation in members’ social insurance claims, and the handling of
common law claims for damages.
Apart from accidents, unions provide
a
number of other legal services
to members. These are often related to specific types of membership.Thus
the Musicians’ Union and Equity deal with
a
number of cases of breach of
contract, while teachers’ unions handle cases involving their members’
tenure in their jobs, and alleged assaults on pupils. Unions also provide
a
service in representing members before the Industrial Tribunals, usually
in redundancy and unfair dismissal issues.
In addition to these services for individual members, there are also
what might be termed ‘collective’ legal services, e.g. defending the union
before the N.I.R.C. and seeking to alter legislation or even initiate it as
the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staff
(A.S.T.M.S.) did with the Foremen and Staff Mutual Benefit Society
*
This
project
is
sponsored
by
the Social Science Research Council,
t
Research Officer, Department
of
Industrial Relations, London School
of
Economics and
2
Lecturer, Department
of
Industrial Relations, London School
of
Economics and Political
Political Science.
Science.
56
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