In a landmark ruling on 17 April, the Supreme Court found in favour of the legal team brought together by UNISON, including Professor Alan Bogg and former University of Bristol Law School Professor Michael Ford KC. The team acted on behalf of Fiona Mercer, a care worker and trade union representative whose employer suspended her after she became involved in a dispute over plans to cut payments for staff for sleep-in shifts.

Fiona Mercer won at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in 2021, which stated she should not be victimised for participating in strike action. Though her employer did not intend to appeal, the then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng took over the case and appealed to the Court of Appeal, which reversed the EAT ruling in 2022. This reflected the profound political significance of the litigation.

UNISON  took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, which found last week that the current law failed to uphold protection for workers from sanctions short of dismissal, effectively nullifying the right to take lawful strike action, which was incompatible with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Professor Alan Bogg said: "This is a case of historic significance for protection of the human right to strike in UK law. The Supreme Court has recognized that UK law should protect individual strikers engaged in lawful strike action from victimization by their employers. As far as we are aware, it is also the first time a declaration of incompatibility has been issued in an employment case under the Human Rights Act 1998."

Over the past decade, University of Bristol Law School academics and alumni have been heavily involved in several high-profile labour law cases – including the P&O Ferries ‘fire and rehire’ scandal, the groundbreaking judgment on Tribunal Fees appealed by UNISON, and the landmark Supreme Court judgment in Kostal v Dunkley on the scope of lawful individual offers in collective bargaining – making the case for regulatory change to protect workers’ rights in Parliament and the courts.

They regularly provide expert analysis of domestic, EU and international employment and human rights law in Supreme Court cases, in parliamentary hearings and in written advice for trade unions and related bodies.