ORGANISING FOR CHANGE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may/june 2026 :: RMTnews 12 RMT is taking advantage of major changes in employment rights legislation to fight for dozens of new recognition agreements up and down the country. The benefits of having a recognition agreement at work between your employer and your union couldn’t be clearer – these agreements allow your union to negotiate better pay, better hours and better conditions for members, usually on an annual basis. They also allow reps to access much needed facility time and training which means that reps can stand up for workers against management across a range of issues, from bullying and harassment to health and safety issues. That’s why your union is implementing a sustained campaign to secure recognition agreements in dozens of non-union companies. RMT has taken advantage of the new Employment Rights Act 2025 which makes legally enforceable recognition much simpler. Before April, unions had to show both that they had ten percent of workers in any proposed bargaining unit and that most workers ‘would be likely to favour recognition of the union’. If a union had submitted a request to an employer and that employer had ignored or refused the request, the union could apply to the Central Arbitration Committee, a state- run body which has the power to order ballots for recognition and decide bargaining units. The requirement to show majority support in a bargaining unit was a substantial hurdle, made worse by the openness of the system for abuse by unscrupulous employers. In 2023, Amazon notoriously added more than a thousand workers to one bargaining unit in its Coventry warehouses to block a trade union from gaining recognition. Until recently, turnout thresholds in recognition ballots also meant that those not voting in a recognition ballot, for whatever reason, had their vote counted against having a union onsite. Whilst RMT has been consistent in opposing the government’s watering down of its Employment Rights Act, the changes around recognition represent a major opportunity for RMT reps and activists. The union no longer needs to show that a majority are likely to support recognition when it applies to the CAC and the requirement that 40 per cent of all workers support recognition has likewise been dropped. While RMT still needs to prove that 10 per cent of those workers in a bargaining unit are members of the union, the government plans to introduce new restrictions on unfair practices as soon as the request for recognition is made. So, what has your union being doing to turn this opportunity into something that secures real benefits for RMT members? The union’s Recruitment, Retention and Organising Department (RROD), in close collaboration with your national and regional officers, national executive committee and regional councils, have spoken to hundreds of reps and members to identify hundreds of bargaining units, calculate density and prepare recognition requests over the past few months. By the time that you have read this article, dozens of companies will have received formal requests to begin negotiating with the union and some will already have signed agreements. In other companies, it will be necessary to pursue the legal road to recognition. If you work for any of the companies involved, you will already have received communication from the union, outlining how you can support the campaign to win recognition. Having a recognised trade union is the bare minimum every worker should be entitled to expect, and your union will not rest until as many members as possible are covered by these arrangements. If you are in a non-union workplace in the rail, maritime, offshore and transport sectors and want to get organised, please let us know by emailing org.unit@rmt.org.uk ORGANISING FOR CHANGE Winning trade union recognition is a crucial part of organising in the workplace. ORGANISING: Recruiting OCS and Mitie workers at Euston station