The rail unions successfully appealed against two injunctions preventing a 24-hour strike on London Midlaand and a 48-hour strike on the Docklands Light Railway. Those injunctions – which, if upheld, would have effectively banned the right to strike – was overturned by three judges sitting in the Court of Appeal. Both ballots overwhelmingly approved strike action, but London Midland and Serco won their case on the grounds of inaccuracies in the ballot notices. The Appeal Court overturned the injunctions, saying they were based on setting “traps or hurdles” for the unions.
Keith Norman, general secretary of ASLEF, said: “Before this ruling it was effectively impossible to take legal strike action in this country. If the employer could find the tiniest discrepancy, the courts would find in the employer’s favour.” RMT leader Bob Crow hailed the ruling as “a massive victory for the 7 million trade unionists in the UK.”
For the first time, the Court of Appeal recognises the right to strike in the context of Britain’s obligations under international law.
