Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

174 Right not to be unreasonably excluded or expelled from union

(1) A person who is, or is seeking to be, in employment with respect to which it is the practice, in accordance with a union membership agreement, for the employee to belong to a specified trade union, or one of a number of specified trade unions, has the right—

(a) not to have an application for membership of a specified trade union unreasonably refused, and

(b) not to be unreasonably expelled from a specified union.

(2) A “union membership agreement” means an agreement or arrangement relating to employees of an identifiable class which—

(a) is made by or on behalf of, or otherwise exists between one or more independent trade unions and one or more employers or employers' associations, and

(b) has the effect in practice of requiring the employees of the class to which it relates (whether or not there is a condition to that effect in their contract of employment) to be or become members of the union or one of the unions which is or are parties to the agreement or arrangement or of another specified independent trade union.

Employees shall be treated as belonging to the same class if they have been identified as such by the parties to the agreement, and they may be so identified by reference to any characteristics or circumstances whatever.

(3) A trade union shall be treated as “specified” for the purposes of, or in relation to, a union membership agreement if it is specified in the agreement or is accepted by the parties to the agreement as being the equivalent of a union so specified.

(4) For the purposes of this section—

(a) an application for membership of a trade union which is neither granted nor rejected before the end of the period within which it might reasonably have been expected to be granted if it was to be granted, shall be treated as having been refused on the last day of that period, and

(b) a person who under the rules of a trade union ceases to be a member of the union on the happening of an event specified in the rules shall be treated as having been expelled from the union.

(5) A person who claims that an application by him for membership of a trade union has been unreasonably refused, or that he has been unreasonably expelled from a trade union, in contravention of this section, may present a complaint to an industrial tribunal.

(6) The question whether the trade union acted reasonably or unreasonably shall be determined in accordance with equity and the substantial merits of the case.

In particular, a union shall not be regarded as having acted reasonably only because it has acted in accordance with the requirements of its rules or unreasonably only because it has acted in contravention of them.