Whilst the ACAS code of practice on disciplinary procedures recommends that employees should be accompanied at hearings, there is no statutory right.  Existing procedures also only cover employees and not workers in the wider sense as covered by the new Act.  This includes agency workers and those on nominally employed contracts.

The new right is to be accompanied by a single companion who is:

• A full time union official
• A certified lay union official or
• A worker from the same workplace

The choice of companion rests with the worker appearing before the hearing.  It can be any person who fills the previous criteria.  This means that a trade union official can be called into a non union workplace.  Workers are also able to delay hearings if the chosen companion is not available by up to 5 days.

The companion can address the hearing and can confer with the worker but cannot answer questions on the workers' behalf.  This is one of the weaknesses in the Act as it gives these workers less rights than if there was full representation under a collective agreement.

This is the first time that unions have been given any automatic right of entry into workplaces and unions will often want to make use of this to establish a union presence in non union workplaces and to make a valid case for trade union membership.

1. Negotiation Stage
Where a voluntary recognition agreement has not been concluded, there is a period for negotiation built into the law.  This states that once a union has made a valid written request for recognition, the employer has 10 days to respond.  The employer can agree to the bargaining unit and recognise the union, state that they are willing to negotiate, fail to respond or reply saying that recognition is not accepted.  If more that one union is involved they must show that they can co-operate.

2. Validation Stage
This is to ensure that it is appropriate for the union to be recognised.  Unions must act strategically when making applications and work in collaboration with other unions, otherwise applications could be lost.  The employer and the union have 20 days to reach agreement over the composition of the bargaining unit.  If no agreement is reached the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) has to decide whether the union has sufficient support (10% in membership) and what will be the composition of the bargaining unit.  It then has to decide if the claim is valid.  Unions should beware of agreeing any bargaining unit where they are not confident of winning, as the CAC can impose a ballot.

Unions must be aware of the risks involved here, as the CAC must examine the proposals with a view to them being compatible with effective management.  The CAC has 10 or more days to do this.  Once this is satisfactorily completed the CAC can call for a ballot or if it has found that the majority of workers are members of the union it can issue a declaration that the union is recognised.

3. Balloting Stage
This only happens if the previous stages are completed.  The CAC will appoint an independent person to oversee the ballot and the ballot must take place within 20 days of the appointment.  The method chosen by the CAC will depend on local factors and will be either at the workplace or postal.  It will often be in a union's interest to have a workplace ballot to ensure a higher turnout.  The Act puts specific duties on the employer to co-operate and allow access to workers and their addresses.  This access to workers is likely to include the right to meet workers in the workplace.  The union wins recognition if it gets

• a majority and
• at least 40% of the electorate voting for recognition.

If the vote is lost the union is barred from claiming for at least 3 years.

4. Bargaining Stage
If the ballot is won, the union have a 30 day period to negotiate a collective bargaining procedure.  If they cannot get agreement then the CAC can impose a legally enforceable contract.  If either of the parties does nothing to implement this, the only legal remedy is an order for "specific performance" by the courts.