Trade Union Elections

The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

Trade unions must compile and maintain registers of their members with their names and addresses. They must be kept up-to-date. The records may be kept electronically.

Members are entitled to a copy of an entry in the register, on request. Upon failure, they may apply it to the High Court or a Certification Officer.The obligation applies to every trade union with its head or main office in NI.

A duty of confidentiality is imposed on scrutineers or independent persons in relation to a ballot. They must not disclose any name or address on the register and take reasonable steps to secure that no disclosure is made except in permitted circumstances. Disclosure may be permitted where the member consents; where it is requested by the Certification Officer for the discharge of his functions or is required by scrutineer or independent person, under his appointment.

There is a provision for an application to the Certification Officer and/or the High Court to enforce failure of compliance with the above obligations.

Legislation provides, in relation to certain matters to be included in annual returns of members. This includes the salaries of members of the executive, president, and general secretary.

Trade unions must ensure that every person who holds a position in the union, being a member of the executive, president, or general secretary, must have been elected in accordance with an election satisfying the following requirements. There are certain limited exemptions.
No person is to be unreasonably excluded from standing as a candidate. They may not be required to be members of a political party. Certain classes of persons may be under specific conditions by the rules.

There are provisions for candidates to make an election address to voting members. Limitations may be imposed on the length and content but not on substantive content.

The trade union shall, before an election is held, appoint a qualified scrutineer to carry out obligations in relation to the election of officers/executive members. They must supervise the production, distribution, and return of the voting members. Specially designated individuals must take steps necessary for the purpose of enabling him to make the report. They must report to the trade union as soon as reasonably practicable after the return of the voting papers.

Members of trade unions have rights to make requests to the scrutineer within certain times in relation to certain matters and subject to certain conditions. Members are to be notified of the appointment of the scrutineer and given his details.

Members of the union are entitled to vote equally. Rules may exclude entitlement to vote in the case of members belonging to certain classes, including persons not in employment, a person in arrears of subscription, trainees, apprentices, and students. They may restrict entitlement to vote by reference to persons engaged in a particular trade or occupation, geographical area, and other factors.

There are detailed provisions in relation to voting, counting of votes designed to ensure the integrity of the ballot. There are provisions in relation to the procedures for counting of votes.

The scrutineer is to report on the election and give details of the total number of voting papers distributed, the total number of voting papers returned, the number of valid votes, the number of spoiled votes, and the names of independent persons who count votes. The votes must be stored and counted by independent persons. That may be the scrutineer or persons whom the scrutineer — whom the trade union has no grounds for believing will carry out his functions other than competently and independently.

The scrutineer’s report is to state whether there are reasonable grounds for believing that any requirement has been contravened in the election. The report must contain certain positive statements in relation to details of compliance.

Failure to comply may be the subject of an application to the Certification Officer or High Court. They may make a declaration, having made inquiries and giving the applicant and trade union the opportunity to be heard.

Where a declaration is made, an enforcement order may be made requiring the union to hold another ballot, take steps to remedy the failure, or abstain from such acts as may be specified with a view to securing that the failure does not reoccur. The Certification Officer and High Court have broadly similar powers. A member of a trade union who claims that members of a trade union, including himself, are likely to be induced by the union to take part in industrial action which does not have the support of a ballot, may apply to the High Court. In order to have the support of a ballot, a ballot must be undertaken in compliance with the ballot obligations, and the majority must have answered “Yes” in accordance with the legislation.

Where, on the application, the High Court is satisfied that the claim is well-founded, it may make such order as it considers appropriate for requiring the union to take steps to ensure that no inducement of members to take part or continue to take place, and no member engages in conduct by virtue of being induced prior to the making of the order.