Paul Deans hails a decisive recalibration of UK employment law in favour of trade unions and their members
The Employment Rights Act 2025 represents the most significant overhaul of UK employment law for a generation. It seeks to rebalance trade union and collective bargaining rights a decade after being defenestrated by the Conservative government.
The Act introduces a series of reforms aimed at simplifying processes, lowering procedural barriers, and strengthening worker protections. Among the most notable developments are the simplification of industrial action balloting, enhanced protection against unfair dismissal, substantial reforms to statutory recognition of unions and expanded rights of union access and presence within the workplace.
For industrial action, the ballot and notice requirements have been streamlined, thus reducing the potential risk of challenges by employers on technical grounds. This is complemented by the reduction in the period of notice (previously 14 days, now ten days) a union is required to give an employer before taking industrial action.
A successful ballot now gives a full-year mandate for strike action rather than the previous position of a six-month mandate. Equally significant is the strengthening of protection against unfair dismissal in the context of industrial action. Under previous legislation, employees could lose protection after a limited period (12 weeks) of participation in strikes whereas the new Act ensures that workers are...
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