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The Industrial Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1992

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Restriction on application of funds for certain political purposes

57.—(1) The funds of a trade union shall not be applied, either directly or in conjunction with any other trade union, association, or body, or otherwise indirectly, in the furtherance of the political objects to which this Article applies (without prejudice to the furtherance of any other political objects), unless the furtherance of those objects has been approved as an object of the union by a resolution for the time being in force passed, on a ballot of the members of the union held in accordance with this Part for the purpose, by a majority of the members voting.

(2) Where such a resolution as is mentioned in paragraph (1) (in this Part referred to as “a resolution”) is in force, the funds of a trade union shall not be applied as so mentioned unless rules of the union, to be approved by the Certification Officer are in force complying with the requirements of Article 58 and providing—

(a)that any payments in the furtherance of those objects are to be made out of a separate fund (in this Part referred to as “the political fund”) of the union; and

(b)that a member who is not a contributor to the political fund of the union shall not be excluded from any benefits of the union, or placed in any respect either directly or indirectly under any disability or at any disadvantage as compared with other members of the union (except in relation to the control or management of the political fund) by reason of his not being a contributor and that contribution to the political fund of the union shall not be made a condition for admission to the union.

(3) If any member of a trade union alleges that he is aggrieved by a breach of any rule made in pursuance of this Article, he may complain to the Certification Officer, and the Certification Officer, after giving the complainant and the union an opportunity of being heard, may, if he considers that such a breach has been committed, make such order for remedying the breach as he thinks just under the circumstances.

(4) Any order of the Certification Officer under paragraph (3) may, on being registered in the county court, be enforced as if it had been an order of the county court.

(5) The political objects to which this Article applies are the expenditure of money—

(a)on any contribution to the funds of, or on the payment of any expenses incurred directly or indirectly by, a political party;

(b)on the provision of any service or property for use by or on behalf of any political party;

(c)in connection with the registration of electors, the candidature of any person, the selection of any candidate or the holding of any ballot by the union in connection with any election to a political office;

(d)on the maintenance of any holder of a political office;

(e)on the holding of any conference or meeting by or on behalf of a political party or of any other meeting the main purpose of which is the transaction of business in connection with a political party;

(f)on the production, publication or distribution of any literature, document, film, sound recording or advertisement the main purpose of which is to persuade people to vote for a political party or candidate or to persuade them not to vote for a political party or candidate.

(6) Where a person attends a conference or meeting as a delegate or otherwise as a participator in the proceedings, any expenditure incurred in connection with his attendance as such shall, for the purposes of paragraph (5)(e), be taken to be expenditure incurred on the holding of the conference or meeting.

(7) In determining, for the purposes of paragraph (5), whether a trade union has incurred expenditure of a kind mentioned in that paragraph, no account shall be taken of the ordinary administrative expenses of the union.

(8) A resolution shall take effect as if it were a rule of the union and may be rescinded in the same manner and subject to the same provisions as such a rule.

(9) A resolution shall, if it has not previously been rescinded, cease to have effect—

(a)on the expiry of the period of ten years beginning with the date of the ballot on which it was passed; or

(b)if a ballot is held before the expiry of that period and the result of the ballot is that a new resolution is not passed, on the expiry of the period of two weeks beginning with the date of the ballot.

(10) Where a trade union holds a ballot at a time when a resolution (the “old resolution”) is in force in respect of that union and the result of the ballot is that a new resolution is passed, the old resolution shall be treated as rescinded on the passing of the new resolution.

(11) Where two or more trade unions have amalgamated under Part X and by virtue of Article 78(4) the amalgamated union is treated as having passed a resolution immediately after the amalgamation, that resolution shall, for the purposes of paragraph (9), be treated as having been passed on the date of the earliest of the ballots on which the resolutions in force immediately before the amalgamation with respect to the amalgamating unions were passed.

(12) The provisions of this Part as to the application of the funds of a union for political purposes shall apply to a union which is of the description referred to in Article 3(1)(b)(i) as if the individual members of the constituent or affiliated organisations were the members of that union and not the organisations; but nothing in this Part shall prevent any such constituent or affiliated organisation from collecting from any of its members who are contributors on behalf of the union any contributions to the political fund of the union.

(13) An appeal shall lie, in accordance with Article 70(4), to the Court of Appeal on any question of law arising in any proceedings before, or arising from any decision of, the Certification Officer under this Article.

(14) In this Article—

“candidate” means a candidate for election to a political office and includes a prospective candidate;

“contribution”, in relation to the funds of a political party, includes any fee payable for affiliation to, or membership of, the party and any loan made to the party;

“electors” means electors at any election to a political office;

“film” has the same meaning as in Schedule 1 to the Films Act 1985(1);

“political office” means the office of member of the Assembly, member of Parliament, member of the Assembly of the European Communities or member of a district council or any position within a political party.

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