Boots is seeking a judicial review after the government's statutory adjudicator rejected its appeal against the PDA Union gaining formal recognition to represent its employees.

Boots told C+D it had written to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) this week about its intentions after the panel refused to reconsider its decision to accept the PDA Union's first application to act on behalf of Boots members.

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	The judicial review would also clarify what effect the PDA Union's application would have on Boot's existing agreement with the Boots Pharmacists Association (BPA), the health and beauty giant told C+D. "We do not believe that the wider interests of all our store colleagues would be best served by formally recognising the PDA Union at this time," a Boots spokesperson told C+D.

"Boots works with a number of trade unions across its business functions and respects the right of all colleagues to become members of a trade union of their choice. We believe we have acted consistently throughout this process, putting the interests of our patients and pharmacists at the forefront and acted properly and within the law," the spokesperson added.

The PDA Union made a request in February last year for the CAC to hear its case, after the multiple said it would not formally recognise the union.

The CAC panel ruled last month that it had accepted the PDA Union's application but needed to be satisfied that the union had met the threshold of at least 10 per cent of pharmacists employed by Boots having membership.

The CAC was carrying out membership checks and said it could take up to 25 weeks before a final decision was made.

Boots UK employs about 6,000 pharmacists, according to the company's website, and the PDA Union claims to have 2,100 Boots members.

BPA chief executive officer Peter Walker told C+D this week it would be balloting its members to see if they wanted it to gain full negotiating rights with Boots. The union had applied to the government for a certificate of independence in October, he added.