Commentary Inducements and detriments in respect of membership etc. of independent trade unions
192.The general effect of sections 146 and 152 of the 1992 Act as they are at present is to make it unlawful for employers to subject employees to detriment (section 146) or dismiss them (section 152) on grounds of their union membership (or non-membership) or on grounds of taking part in union activities “at an appropriate time”.
193.In July 2002 the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in the case of Wilson & the National Union of Journalists, Palmer, Wyeth & the National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers, Doolan & others v United Kingdom [2002] IRLR 568 (“Wilson and Palmer”) (a summary of the judgment can be found at http://www.echr.coe.int/Eng/Press/2002/july/WilsonandOthersjudepress.htm). The Court concluded that UK trade union law was incompatible with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of association) in that where a trade union was recognised by an employer for the purposes of collective bargaining about the terms and conditions of a group of employees, the law did not prevent the employer from offering inducements to the employees in the group to persuade them to surrender their collective representation and have their terms settled instead by negotiations between each individual employee and the employer. The Government believes that the principle underlying the decision of the Court extends beyond the facts in Wilson and Palmer and is applicable to a number of other comparable circumstances. The purpose of sections 29 to 32 is therefore to secure that these provisions deal not only with the facts in Wilson and Palmer but also with the other circumstances considered by the Government to be comparable.