Union members win equal rights

The case has been going on for 10 years

Employers in the UK are unlawfully allowed to discriminate against workers who want to join a union, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.

The court found in favour of a journalist and a group of dock workers who were denied pay rises after they refused to sign personal contracts.

It is outrageous that UK law continued to allow workers to be penalised

John Monks
TUC

These would have made the workers accept that they could not be represented by a union.

After the ruling, the head of the trade union body, the TUC, called on the British government to change the law.

Ten year battle

The journalist, Dave Wilson, worked for the Daily Mail newspaper.

The dock workers were employed by Associated British Ports.

They originally took their case to an industrial tribunal in the early 1990s, arguing that the refusal to give them a pay rise amounted to discrimination on trade union grounds.

Since then the dispute has continued through the appeal courts.

And in the mid-nineties the then Conservative government made it legal for employers to provide inferior terms for trade union members.

'Important victory'

The unions involved in the case, the NUJ and the RMT, appealed to the European Court under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The unions were backed by the TUC and the human rights organisation, Liberty.

TUC general secretary John Monks said Tuesday's ruling was an "important victory" for unions.

"It is outrageous that UK law continued to allow workers to be penalised for trying to make use of their union membership through representation," he added.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry said: "We will study the judgement in detail before deciding whether any aspects of current law need to be changed."