Zarah ChoudharyUnite the Union’s application for collective bargaining rights at Veolia ES (UK) Limited’s Sheffield operations has been rejected after the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) ruled it inadmissible.
Unite applied to represent refuse workers employed on the Sheffield City Council contract at the Lumley Street depot.
It said a national recognition agreement with Veolia was already in place and submitted a petition with 132 signatures to show workforce support.
Veolia opposed the application, stating that GMB had been the recognised union for over 20 years.
It said GMB conducted pay bargaining on behalf of the workers and provided a national agreement signed with Onyx in 2004.
Although no separate local agreement existed, the CAC accepted that a recognition agreement was in place based on the conduct of the parties.
Under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, an application is not admissible if a union is already recognised for collective bargaining on behalf of the workers.
The CAC ruled that Unite’s application did not meet the conditions needed to disapply this rule because the application was made by a different union and not for separate bargaining topics.
Veolia also said GMB had more members within the bargaining unit than Unite, and that it had not seen the petition.
It reported that GMB alleged workers were misled into signing the petition by being asked if they wanted striking workers to return rather than whether they supported Unite’s recognition.
Unite rejected this claim and said the petition was clear that workers were being asked if they objected to Unite being formally recognised alongside GMB.
Unite also said the dispute was about Veolia’s refusal to agree to recognition and not an inter-union dispute.
Veolia said it had tried to bring GMB and Unite together but GMB had refused to engage and warned it would call members out on strike if Unite was recognised.
Acas was involved intermittently but formally withdrew from the process in May 2024, saying it could not intervene without GMB’s involvement.
Unite said it had not been made aware of any formal complaint by GMB to the Trades Union Congress.
The CAC said it was satisfied it could make a decision based on written evidence and ruled that Unite’s application was inadmissible under paragraph 35 of the Schedule to the Act.
A Veolia spokesperson said: “Yesterday, the Central Arbitration Committee rejected Unite the Union’s application for recognition at Sheffield because there is already a collective bargaining agreement in place with the GMB.
“This decision backs what Veolia has said for nine months; this is an inter-union dispute and an attempt by Unite to muscle in on a long standing agreement with the GMB and bully Veolia into breaking that agreement.
“Unite has entirely mischaracterised the dispute from the beginning.
“From the outset, Veolia has gone to extraordinary lengths to create the conditions for dialogue between Unite and GMB.
“We promptly and repeatedly approached the Trades Union Congress and other mediation bodies in the UK which, disappointingly, refused to intervene.
“Despite our commitment to dialogue, Veolia has been the target of a relentless and misguided campaign of intimidation and harassment by Unite officials, who have falsely cast us as ‘union-busters’.
“Veolia has always maintained that this is completely untrue – we have a rich history of industrial relations and we will always respect the right of all employees to be a member of a trade union of their choice.
“Veolia will vigorously continue legal proceedings against Unite for the damage caused by its nine month campaign of defamation to undermine our reputation and our business.
“We call on Unite to immediately end their misguided and unnecessary campaign, respect the CAC’s decision and accept the GMB’s offer which will enable our colleagues to return to work.”
Workplace Journal reached out to GMB and Unite for comment prior to publication.
