GMB Trade Union Rights From Day One Tribunal Winx

GMB@WORK
Wigan Greater Manchester on the right to be represented at hearings by a trade union from day one
on the job regardless of employment status. Case Number 2413340/2012.
Mr Collins lodged a claim after he was refused trade union representation during a disciplinary
hearing in the 3 month probationary period of in his job with ILC Manchester t/a International
Learning College in Manchester where he worked as an employment tutor in 2012.
Mr Collins began employment with the company on 26th March 2012 and had 11 weeks service
when he was denied representation at a disciplinary hearing. The company claimed that he had
signed a contract agreeing to this.
Mr Collins supported by GMB insisted that as Section 10 (the right to representation) is a statutory
right which is not tied to length of service or to contracts which deny employees their statutory rights.
The Tribunal has now ruled that whether a workers is temporary, on a probationary period, or
otherwise, is irrelevant, a workers are still entitled to trade union representation under section 10,
ERA 99 after reasonably requesting this and employers cannot force employees to sign this right
away. Mr Collins has been awarded damages.
Francis Collins said "the company had added a clause to their contracts that they thought would
exempt them from ACAS code, and trade union involvement, and in doing so it was a premeditated
attempted to drive a coach & horses through the magic hole they thought they had created in the
Employment Relations Act.
The clause stated "The company reserves the right to dismiss or discipline an employee with less
than 12 months continuous service without following the disciplinary procedure".
As it was in the contract that they force every employee to sign when starting employment, they
thought they could make the clause, and the exemption, legally binding.
It is the first time I have ever seen a company attempt to get its employees to 'contractually opt out'
of ACAS code, and their statutory right to representation before offering them employment.
I saw this clause when accepting the job, and was happy to sign it, as I knew that it is one thing to
write a contract, but entirely another when attempting to enforce it in a courtroom.
Little did I know at the time that they would actually attempt just that later on down the line with
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