Privy Council to hear Civil Aviation Authority appeal on PSA recognition

THE UK-based Privy Council is set to hear arguments in a labour relations dispute between the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Public Services Association (PSA) over union certification for aviation sector employees, following an appeal by the authority.

The case hinges on whether the PSA was properly recognised as the certified recognised majority union (RMU) under the Civil Aviation (Amendment) Act 2003 (CAAA) and whether that recognition was subject to the Industrial Relations Act (IRA).

At issue is the interpretation of section 26A of the CAAA and whether compliance with Part III of the IRA, including certification by the Registration Recognition and Certification Board (RRCB), was required before the PSA could be deemed the official bargaining unit representative.

The Civil Aviation Authority, an essential industry established under Act 33 of 2000 and re-established by the Civil Aviation Act of 2001, assumed responsibility for civil aviation from the Ministry of Works. Employees previously served as public officers under the ministry and were transferred to the authority when it was created.

The PSA had been the recognised union for those public servants. However, a 2003 amendment introduced sections 26A, 26B, and 26C, creating new legislative grounds for determining union status at the authority.

Though the PSA initially applied to the RRCB in 2007 to be certified, it later withdrew the request. A second application in 2010 led to the RRCB’s 2016 certification of the PSA as the RMU, which the High Court quashed in 2017 on the ground that the board had certified the PSA without allowing the authority to be heard.

In 2018, the PSA filed a complaint with the Industrial Court, alleging the authority had failed to engage the union in good faith, breaching section 40 of the IRA. The Industrial Court dismissed the complaint in 2022, agreeing with the authority that the PSA was not the certified RMU. The PSA’s appeal to the Court of Appeal was also dismissed in February 2023, though it has since filed a cross-appeal.

The Privy Council will determine whether the PSA’s recognition was bound by the IRA, and if so, whether the RRCB could legally certify the union given its existing certifications in two other essential industries.

The appeals have been set for hearing on May 19, before Lords Briggs, Hamblen, Leggatt, Richards and Lady Simler.