Picketing | Public Interest Disclosures
Key points It is lawful for a person, in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute, to attend: at or near his own place of work, or if he is an official of a trade union, at or near the place of work of a member of that union whom he is accompanying and whom he represents, for the purpose only of peacefully obtaining or communicating information, or peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from work. Picketing is not actionable in tort if it meets these criteria. But it is actionable as a form of industrial action if it does not have the support of a ballot or is done in order to put pressure on an employer to dismiss a non-union member (or to discriminate against him) or to 'persuade' him not to hire non-union workers (sections 219, 220 and 222, Trade Union & Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992). Note For these purposes, an official of a trade union is a full-time officer of the union or of a branch or sectio...