Decision

Recognition Decision

Updated 24 October 2023

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Case Number: TUR1/1302(2023)

23 October 2023

CENTRAL ARBITRATION COMMITTEE

TRADE UNION AND LABOUR RELATIONS (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1992

SCHEDULE A1 - COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: RECOGNITION

DECLARATION THAT THE UNIONS ARE NOT ENTITLED TO BE RECOGNISED

The Parties:

NASUWT & NEU

and

Radley College

1. Introduction

1)         NASUWT & NEU (the Unions) submitted an application to the CAC on 3 February 2023 that they should be recognised for collective bargaining by Radley College (the Employer) for a bargaining unit comprising “Teachers and Early Career Teachers (excluding the Headteacher) employed by Radley College” which is in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.  The CAC gave both parties notice of receipt of the application on 6 February 2023.  The Employer submitted a response to the CAC dated 10 February 2023 which was copied to the Unions.

2)         In accordance with section 263 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (the Act), the CAC Chair established a Panel to deal with the case.  The Panel consisted of Mr Tariq Sadiq, Panel Chair, and, as Members, Mr Mustafa Faruqi and Mr Steve Gillan.  The Case Manager appointed to support the Panel was Kaniza Bibi.

3)         By a decision dated 7 March 2023 the Panel accepted the Unions’ application. The parties then entered a period of negotiation in an attempt to reach agreement on the appropriate bargaining unit. On 12 April 2023 the parties notified the CAC that they had reached an agreement as to the appropriate bargaining unit and this was “Teachers and Early Career Teachers employed by Radley College, excluding the Warden (Headteacher) and the Sub Warden (Deputy Headteacher). For the avoidance of doubt, the bargaining unit includes all other teaching members of the Senior Management Team (SMT) save for the Warden and Sub Warden”.  This bargaining unit differed from that originally proposed by the Unions by the exclusion of the Sub-Warden.

4)         As the agreed bargaining unit differed from that proposed by the Unions in their application, the Panel was required by paragraph 20 of Schedule A1 to the Act (the Schedule) to decide whether the Unions’ application was valid or invalid within the terms of paragraphs 43 to 50 of the Schedule. By a decision dated 22 May 2023 the Panel determined that the application was valid for the purposes of paragraph 20 and that the CAC would therefore proceed with the application.

5)         On 20 June 2023, having carefully considered the parties’ submissions, the Panel, having decided that the qualifying conditions in paragraph 22(4)(a) and (b) of the Schedule were fulfilled and therefore a ballot should be held in the interests of good industrial relations and on the basis that a significant number of the union members within the bargaining unit had informed the CAC that they do not want the Unions to conduct collective bargaining on their behalf, gave notice in accordance with paragraph 23(2) of the Schedule that it intended to arrange for the holding of a secret ballot in which the workers constituting the bargaining unit would be asked whether they wanted the Unions to conduct collective bargaining on their behalf. The Panel also advised the parties that it would wait until the end of the notification period of ten working days, as specified in paragraph 24(5), before arranging a secret ballot. 

6)         The notification period under paragraph 24(5) of the Schedule ended on 3 July 2023.  The CAC was not notified by both the parties that they did not want the ballot to be held, as per paragraph 24(2). The parties were also asked for their views on the form the ballot should take.

7)         The parties did not agree on the type of ballot to be conducted. In a decision dated 6 July 2023 the Panel, having considered the views of the parties and the factors specified in paragraphs 25(5) and (6) of the Schedule, decided that the ballot should be a postal ballot.  In its submissions on the form of ballot the Unions requested that the ballot be conducted during the early part of the new term in September or October 2023.  In its submissions, the Employer suggested that the qualified independent person be appointed from 11 September 2023 with the twenty-day balloting period commencing the following day.  The Panel was content to accede to this request given that both parties consented to the delayed start to the ballot.

2. The Ballot

8)         Civica Election Services Limited was appointed as QIP on 11 September 2023 to conduct the ballot and the parties were notified accordingly.  The postal ballot papers were despatched on 26 September 2023, to be returned by no later than noon on 9 October 2023, the day that the ballot closed. 

9)         The QIP reported to the CAC on 9 October 2023, that out of 114 workers eligible to vote, 94 ballot papers had been returned: one ballot paper was found to be spoilt. Thirty-three workers, that is 35.5% of those voting, had voted to support the proposal that the Unions be recognised for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer.  Sixty workers, that is 64.5% of those voting, voted to reject the proposal.  The number of votes supporting the proposal as a percentage of the bargaining unit was 28.9%.

10)       The CAC informed the Employer and the Union on 11 October 2023 of the result of the ballot in accordance with paragraph 29(2) of the Schedule.

3. Declaration that the Union is not entitled to be recognised

11)       The ballot establishes that recognition of the Unions is not supported by a majority of the workers voting and so, in accordance with paragraph 29(4) of the Schedule, the CAC declares that the Unions are not recognised as entitled to conduct collective bargaining on behalf of the bargaining unit.

Panel

Mr Tariq Sadiq, Panel Chair

Mr Mustafa Faruqi

Mr Steve Gillan

23 October 2023