Employer’s notice to end bargaining arrangements
Paragraph 12 amends those provisions in Part IV of Schedule 1A which deal with a notice by an employer that he wishes bargaining arrangements which are the result of an earlier declaration of statutory recognition by the IC to cease to have effect. Such notice may be given if the employer believes that he, taken with any associated employer(s), employed an average of fewer than 21 workers in a given 13 week period, and if three years have passed since the IC awarded recognition. Currently if the union has successfully challenged an employer’s notice to end bargaining arrangements or has won a derecognition ballot in the previous three years it cannot challenge a further notice by the employer, thus allowing the union to be derecognised without having an opportunity to put its views to the IC. This paragraph rectifies this anomaly by providing that a previous relevant application does not render an application by the union challenging the further notice inadmissible. The Article also provides that any unsuccessful application or notice to derecognise the union by the employer or a worker (or workers) renders any further such notice or application inadmissible for a period of three years.
