NETWORK RAIL RUNS TO THE COURTS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: april 2010 :: RMTnews 4 Instead of negotiating with RMT to avoid strike action over plans to slash 1,500 jobs at Network Rail, the government- backed company ran and got an injunction to ban industrial action by signallers and other operational staff. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the union intended to re-ballot members and said that the legal challenge was a “scandalous attempt" to use anti-union laws to prevent workers exercising their right to strike. Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Bob Crow vowed that the union would reballot its members and insisted that the campaign to defend the safety of Britain's railways was "by no means over". “Network Rail may have won round one, but this is a 15- round heavyweight contest - we are still in dispute and determined to fight on," he said. TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty backed RMT and pledged to reballot his members to ensure that supervisors could continue to strike alongside signallers and maintenance workers. “We had always intended to execute this dispute standing shoulder to shoulder with our sister union," Mr Doherty said. In a highly political judgment Mrs Justice Sharp granted the injunction, which blocked strike action planned for April 6, after agreeing with Network Railís allegations of discrepancies in the ballot. The company claimed that RMT had balloted 11 signal boxes which had been closed for years; recorded more votes than the number of employees in 67 locations; failed to ballot 26 workplaces involving a total of 100 staff; and balloted 12 locations where staff were ineligible to vote. Under the UKís draconian anti-trade union laws, a union must give the employer the number by grade and location of members balloted for industrial action. But ballot papers are not sent to signal boxes or work locations. Voting papers are sent direct to union membersí homes in a postal ballot conducted by the Electoral Reform Society. “If you follow the mad logic of Network Rail, then every general election ever held in this country would be declared null and void. “This is a clear attack on democracy and the right of workers to withdraw their labour collectively, which is the cornerstone of a free societyî Bob Crow said. BALLOT-RIGGING SMEARS Following the judgment, BBC Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys used an interview with Bob Crow to accuse the union of ìballot-riggingî. The Guardian newspaper also wrote a vicious editorial against the union. John McDonnell MP immediately wrote to newspaper to protest over what he said was the worst example of a concerted campaign of media bias against a trade union since the 1980s miners' strike. “John Humphrys' interview of Bob Crow, with his references to ballot-rigging, and the BBC's subsequent headline of "RMT's Bob Crow denies ballot rigging", was that disgusting classic of the old hack lawyer's tactic of asking the defendant: ëWhen did you stop beating your wife?í,î he wrote. PROPORTIONAL? Mrs Justice Sharp added insult to injury by effectively deciding that applications for high Court injunctions against industrial action can be granted where the strike can be shown to have a disproportionate impact on the travelling public. RMT president Alex Gordon said that, by invoking ëproportionalityí, Sharpís judgment actually increased the scope of anti-union laws further (see page 23). “This is a remarkable new development in UK law imported from recent European Court of Justice judgments, allows judges to assess effects of strike action and whether such actions are justified. “This will have massive repercussions for public sector workers opposing post-general election spending cuts and is a Trojan horse to outlaw effective strike action to defend key services,î he said. The union is campaigning against these anti-trade union laws, which contravene many ILO conventions, and is in the process of challenging them at the European Court of Human Rights. NETWORK RAIL RUNS TO THE COURTS Union to re-ballot signalling and infrastructure maintenance staff at Network Rail after court bans strike action SHARP END: Bob Crow with Alex Gordon and executive committee members outside the High Court in London after Judge Mrs Justice Sharp granted an injunction to Network Rail banning legitimate strike action.