Politics, Community, Democracy: Appraising Cac Decision-Making in the First Five Years of Schedule A1

Abstract

The fifth anniversary of the statutory recognition procedure in Schedule A1 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 presents a timely opportunity to evaluate the Central Arbitration Committee's (CAC) work in administering the recognition procedure. This article analyses the CAC's interpretive approach in three aspects of the recognition procedure: the 'majority support likely' threshold in determining the admissibility of the union's recognition claim, the contours of the bargaining unit, and deciding whether to order a ballot in situations where the union already has majority membership amongst the workers in the bargaining unit. In each of these contexts, the article concludes that the CAC is resolving ongoing interpretive disputes in a manner that is sensitive to the underlying political values at stake.