Legal battles looms as the SFA refuse to deal with refs’ union
BY ALAN CAMPBELL THE SFA face a legal challenge over their failure to recognise the right of top refs to be represented by the Prospect trade union.
In a letter to their 65 Scottish members, including many of Scotland’s top whistlers, Prospect have stated they’ll be pushing for statutory recognition through the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC).
This follows new SFA chief Ian Maxwell’s refusal to meet with Prospect earlier this year, a stance previously adopted by his predecessor Stewart Regan.
Prospect’s members in Scotland include Category 1 referees and Category 3 specialist assistant refs who officiate in the Premiership.
Prospect negotiating officer Ian Perth said: “We wrote to the new chief executive to outline our concerns and to seek to meet and discuss.
“Unfortunately his response mirrored almost exactly the response from his predecessor. Our members tell us they need an independent professional voice speaking on their behalf.
“As our membership has grown year on year, we are now in a position to look at the process of statutory recognition. This can be an arduous formal process for all concerned but with the lack of engagement from the SFA they leave us with limited options.
“We are now moving to prepare our submissions for the Central Arbitration Committee and in the meantime we will continue to seek engagement from the SFA.”