ASLEF win expulsion right

UK train drivers’ union ASLEF have triumphed in a case before the European Court of Human Rights.  Unable to expel a BNP member due to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, the union contended that Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights allowed it to choose its members, just as workers were free to choose whether or not they applied to join. The ECHR agreed and further said that there could be other reasons to expel a member so long as they were in accordance with union rules.

Young people must count for consultation

Two years ago, in an effort to reduce youth unemployment, the French government changed the law so that employees under the age of 26 were not counted when calculating the size of a firm’s workforce. The relevant EU directive on collective redundancy is triggered when a certain percentage of employees are sacked. It was thought that by taking on young people the company would be less likely to have to inform and consult the trade unions, under the directive, if redundancies were required later. Now the French union confederations have won their case against the amendment which the European Court of Justice found was in breach of EU legislation.

UK pension protection not good enough

Members of British unions Amicus and Community could benefit from an ECJ ruling that the UK government did not do enough to protect them when their employer, ASW Limited, went into liquidation. Under the European Insolvency Directive EU Member States must set up a system to preserve occupation pension scheme entitlements when a firm goes bust. The court decided that, as some of the claimants were to receive less than half of what was due to them, the UK had failed to do this.