ALurker quotes the law:
"Collective agreements are made between employers and Trade Unions. They are not intended to be legally enforceable unless in writing and stated to be so but this is rare. Collective agreements may be binding as between the workers and an employer if incorporated into the workers' contracts by express reference or implied by custom and practice."
I think I've addressed this:
only binding if it states that is is binding in the agreement itself- not your contract.
The Custom & practice may certainly be relevant, though.
ALurker quotes the law again:
Usually, collective agreements are not in themselves legally enforceable. However, parts of collective agreements such as pay rates, or references to agreements, may be inserted into the employment contracts of individual employees. Because individual employment contracts are legally enforceable, many collective agreements are indirectly underpinned by law
Did you say you had no individual contract? I believe you did...
I think you're wrong, by the way, I am as certain as I can possibly be that you DO have a contract. Are you certain YOURS personally refers to specific agreements?
The last sentence "
many collective agreements are indirectly underpinned by law" is an awfully vague thing to hang the future of the union on.....
Not quite sure what "Oh dear
" refers to?
The law (if it has not been amended) clearly states that the
agreement itself has to state it's legally binding. It specifically states that the reference from the contract in not enough:
Whether agreement intended to be a legally enforceable contract.
— (1) A collective agreement shall be conclusively presumed not to have been intended by the parties to be a legally enforceable contract unless the agreement—
(a)
is in writing, and
(b)
contains a provision which (however expressed) states that the parties intend that the agreement shall be a legally enforceable contract
Why don't you just go and find out if your agreements say they're legally binding? That'd shut me up.
If the law is contradictory, you'd better hope for a very sympathetic judge, because it could go either way.... Have you heard THAT from your union?