Following last week’s massive win in the Supreme Court by the trade union Unison which made tribunal fees unlawful, the union has chalked up a second win. 

The Court of Appeal has now agreed that businesses should consult unions before making changes to contracts that will affect their members. 

The case was specifically about a failure to consult on redundancies but the court ruled that the union could also bring a claim if the terms and conditions of contracts or the rights of their members had been affected more generally. This will make it much harder to ignore unions when changes were being made in the workplace. Prior to last Friday’s Court of Appeal ruling, employers only had to consult with unions where the law explicitly said they must, for example, in TUPE or redundancy negotiations. Although there is a requirement on an employer to consult on health and safety issues, many did not consult on wider issues that affect the health of workers such as shift patterns or working hours. The decision is likely to mean that employers will now be legally required to do so. 

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “This is the second major legal victory in a week for working people. It means that employees in any workplace where there’s a union will now benefit from greater protection at work. The message to bosses is they will have to treat their staff more fairly over pay and working conditions. If they fail to consult unions then they will be acting unlawfully and could be taken to court.”