RMT WINS RIGHT TO STRIKE FOR MILLIONS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2011 :: RMTnews 8 RMT has secured a major victory in the Court of Appeal over UK strike laws that will pave the way for millions to take action over cuts to jobs and services in the months ahead. The union had appealed an injunction granted in the High Court in January preventing a 48 hour strike on Docklands Light Railway. That injunction - which would have taken the anti-trade union laws in this country to within a whisker of effectively banning the right to strike - was overturned in the Court of Appeal. Lord justices Mummery, Etheron and Elias rejected the previous ruling which said the ballot notice to Serco were not “as accurate as reasonably practicable”. The judges upheld the right to strike and said that the any minor inaccuracies were a matter of human error. They ruled that the legal test for ballot notices was “as accurate as reasonably practicable in the light of the information in the possession of the union”. The judgment has massive implications for ongoing disputes, including on Arriva Trains Wales and London Underground, and clears a path for unions in all sectors planning ballots over jobs, pensions and cuts to living standards. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the judgment was not only a victory for staff on Serco Docklands and RMT members but it is also a massive victory for the seven million trade unionists in the UK. “The Serco Docklands injunction on balloting process would have effectively banned the right to strike if it had been allowed to stand and would have tightened the noose around the necks of nurses, firefighters, ambulance crew, home helps and others engaged in fighting back to the point of strangulation. “This victory today helps clear the path for those workers to take action,” he said. He said that the landmark victory for working people in this country could not have been secured without the sterling work of Richard Arthur and Doug Christie from Thompson’s solicitors and the advocacy of RMT’s standing counsel John Hendy QC. The result means that the best part of £100,000 in RMT’s legal costs will be paid back to the union. “We said on the steps of the High Court last year after the union lost the Network Rail case over the right to strike that it was round one to the employers. “Well, this is round two to the trade unions and the millions who count on us to defend their jobs, pensions and workplace rights,” Bob said. RMT WINS RIGHT TO STRIKE FOR MILLIONS Union secures major court victory on right to strike paving the way for workers to take action over cuts to jobs and services ROUND ONE: Bob Crow with RMT president Alex Gordon and executive committee members outside the High Court in London last April after Mrs Justice Sharp granted an injunction to Network Rail banning legitimate strike action