The sole question before the court below was whether the respondent, a registered trade union had satisfied the requirement under section 54 of the Labour Relations Act to warrant its recognition by the appellant. Recognition under the Act is a term of art which refers to the process whereby an employer or employers’ organization, formally, through a written agreement, acknowledges a trade union as the representative of the interests of unionisable employees of the employer or the employer’s organization. Section 54(1) of the Act provides that;
“An employer, including an employer in the public sector, shall recognise a trade union for purposes of collective bargaining if that trade union represents the simple majority of unionisable employees.” (Our emphasis)
The respondent claimed that despite meeting this threshold the appellant had failed or neglected to accord it recognition status; that by the time the claim was filed the respondent had recruited 475 unionisable employees out a wor…