Industrial action can have very serious consequences for a business. This section of the Guide opens by describing the types of industrial action that may be used by workers who are in dispute with their employer (types of industrial action). It then outlines ways of avoiding industrial action (avoiding industrial action) and summarises the practical considerations that employers need to bear in mind when formulating their response to it (responding to industrial action).
The section then goes on to deal with the law. This is a complex area, and companies that are facing industrial action may wish to contact their Association for advice.
In calling employees out on strike, a trade union and its officials are not only asking their members to break their obligations under their employment contract but also interfering with the employer's ability to fulfil its obligations under its commercial contracts with its customers and suppliers. On the face of it, these actions are unlawful, and, if legislation did not intervene, the employer would be able to ask a court to order the union to stop calling the action and award the employer compensation for any economic loss the action had caused. The law does, however, give unions some leeway to organise industrial action without being sued, provided that the action meets certain conditions. This section explains what those conditions are (union liability for industrial action), the most important being the need for the action to be supported by a properly conducted secret ballot.
Industrial action has important legal consequences for the individuals who take part in it as well as for the union that organises it. This section explains how employees who take industrial action are very likely to be breaking their contractual obligation to be ready and willing to carry out their duties (contractual issues). The section also explains how employees may in certain limited circumstances lose their protection from being unfairly dismissed (unfair dismissal protection). Drawing on these legal rules, the section ends with a discussion of the options that are open to an employer in dealing with individuals who take industrial action (employer responses).