Regarding BASSA's supposed exclusion of LGW from the ballot: It strikes me (excuse the pun) that by excluding a large sector of membership who could sway the vote, they are in fact manipulating the ballot. On this basis the following may be useful to LGW BASSA members who are disappointed in this action:
The law also gives union members a statutory right to restrain their union from inducing them and others to take any industrial action without the support of a properly conducted ballot. This statutory right is described more fully in the section Industrial action ballots of Industrial action and the law: a guide for employees and trade union members - Regulatory Guidance.
Regarding the ballot itself, the following may also be helpful:
Notice of the ballot and sample voting paper for employers
The union must take such steps as are reasonably necessary to ensure that any employer who it is reasonable for the union to believe will be the employer of any of its members who will be entitled to vote receives certain information in advance of the intended opening day of the ballot (i.e. the first day when a voting paper is sent to any person entitled to vote), as follows:
* Not later than the seventh day before the intended opening day, written notice
o stating that the union intends to hold the ballot;
o specifying the date which the union reasonably believes will be the opening day of the ballot;
o provides a list of the categories of employee to which the affected employees belong, figures on the number of employees in each category, figures on the numbers of employees at each workplace, the total number of affected employees; together with an explanation of how these figures were arrived at. However, these lists and figures do not necessarily need to be supplied in full in situations where some or all of the employees pay their union subscriptions by deduction from pay at source e.g. through “check off” or “DOCAS “ systems. In such circumstances, the notice must contain either:
1. those same lists, figures and explanations as set out above; or
2. such information as will enable the employer to readily deduce the total number of employees affected, the categories of employee to which they belong, the number of employees concerned in each of those categories, the workplaces at which the employees concerned work and the number of them at each of these workplaces.
The “employees affected” are those whom the union reasonably believes will be entitled to vote in the ballot.
Which begs the obvious question: Why do BASSA think its members at Gatwick are not entitled to vote? Or is it simply punishing them for their lack of support over "imposition"?
And another little nugget that might come in handy later:
An employer may re-employ a worker dismissed during strike action on whatever terms the employer chooses, providing the same terms are offered to all the employees who were dismissed. During the 3 months following dismissal, an employer cannot selectively re-employ some workers and not others but after the 3 months are up, the employer has the right to choose who he/she re-employs if necessary.