20 June 2008
CENTRAL ARBITRATION COMMITTEE
TRADE UNION AND LABOUR RELATIONS (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1992
SCHEDULE A1 - COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: RECOGNITION
DECLARATION THAT THE UNION IS NOT ENTITLED
TO BE RECOGNISED
The Parties:
CWU
and
Cable & Wireless
Services UK Ltd
1.
The CWU (the Union) submitted an application to the CAC dated 30 April 2007 that it should be recognised for collective
bargaining by Cable and Wireless Plc (the Employer) in respect of a bargaining
unit comprising “employees in UK Field Services (except Managers)”.
2.
In accordance with section 263 of the Trade Union and Labour
Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (the Act), the CAC Chairman established a
Panel to deal with the case. The Panel
consisted of Professor John Purcell, Panel Chair, and as Members, Mrs Diana
Palmer and Mr David Coats. The Case
Manager appointed to support the Panel was Kate Norgate.
3. By a decision dated 11 June
2007,
the Panel accepted the Union’s application and, as no agreement was reached on the
bargaining unit, subsequently invited both Parties to supply the Panel with,
and to exchange, written submissions relating to the question of the
determination of the appropriate bargaining unit. A hearing was held on 22 August 2007. Having
carefully considered the Parties written and oral submissions the Panel decided
that the appropriate bargaining unit was that specified by the Union in its application.
4. Following this, on 17
September 2007, the Employer made an application for judicial review. In a judgment dated 4
February 2008, the Administrative Court decided that there was no
error of law on the CAC decision.
5. The Panel then decided to hold a hearing to determine
whether the Union should be recognised without a ballot or whether a
ballot should be held. The hearing took
place on 10 March 2008 and, by way of a decision
dated 4 April 2008, the Panel decided that a ballot should be held.
The Ballot
6. The Panel gave notice under paragraph 23(2) of the Schedule that
a secret ballot would be arranged in which the workers constituting the
bargaining unit would be asked whether they wanted the Union to conduct
collective bargaining on their behalf.
The Panel asked for the views of the Parties on the form of the ballot
and, in a letter dated 4 April 2008, informed the Parties that
it would be a postal ballot. The Parties
then, with the assistance of the Panel Chairman, reached agreement on access
arrangements.
7. The Panel subsequently directed that Electoral Reform
Services (ERS) should be appointed as the Qualified Independent Person (QIP) to
conduct the ballot.
8. The QIP was appointed on 10 May
2008
and the Parties were notified accordingly in a letter of the same date. The Parties were informed that the balloting
period would commence on 12 May 2008 and close at 2.00
p.m.
on 9 June 2008. The postal
ballot papers would be dispatched on 22 May
2008
to be returned by no later than 2.00 p.m. on 9 June 2008.
9. The QIP reported to the CAC on 9
June 2008 that, of the 359 workers in the bargaining unit, 331 had voted in the
ballot; there were no spoilt ballot papers. 77 workers (23.3% of those voting)
had voted to support the proposal that the Union should be recognised by the
Employer and 254 workers (76.7% of those voting) had voted to reject the
proposal. The proportion of workers constituting the
bargaining unit who supported the proposal was 21.4%.
10. On 4 June 2008 the Union submitted a complaint to
the CAC under paragraph 27A of the Schedule that the Employer had used unfair
practices. By way of a decision dated 18 June 2008, the Panel decided that the complaint was not well
founded.
Declaration that the Union is not
entitled to be recognised
11. The ballot did not establish that a majority of workers who
voted in the ballot supported the proposal that the Union be recognised by the
Employer for the purposes of collective bargaining within the bargaining unit.
12. In accordance with paragraph 29(4) of the Schedule, the CAC
declares that the Union is not recognised by the Employer as entitled to
conduct collective bargaining on behalf of the bargaining unit.
Panel
Professor John Purcell,
Chairman
Mr David Coats
Mrs Diana Palmer
20 June 2008