(1) Ian Methven (2) Michael Eatwell (3) Louisa Bull v Unite the Union — 2025

This was a preliminary hearing on the respondent's applications to strike out claims or, alternatively, for deposit orders. The tribunal refused all strike out applications. It held that the respondent had not shown that section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 could not in principle apply where Unite was both the employer and the independent trade union relied on by the claimants.

For the trade union detriment claims, the tribunal found that lodging collective grievances through the ONC could potentially be an activity of Unite as an independent trade union, so no strike out or deposit order was made on that argument. It found that the claimants had little reasonable prospect of showing that implementing a motion for the ONC to join another union, or supporting an unsuccessful candidate in Unite's General Secretary election, were activities of Unite itself. Deposit orders of £500 were made for those arguments.

For the harassment complaints, the tribunal held that the first two claimants' allegations about Andy Green's email and related conduct were fact sensitive and could not be disposed of at this stage. It also held that political belief can qualify as a protected philosophical belief, and that it could not conclude on the material before it that belief in moderate left-wing socialism had little reasonable prospect of protection under section 10 Equality Act 2010.