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11
September 2009
In August the Court of Appeal upheld the decision to grant
an injunction against a planned strike by UNITE members in
October 2008. The Court ruled that UNITE had not informed
Metrobus of the results of the strike ballot within a reasonable
amount of time and that the union had not provided Metrobus
with an explanation about the information supplied on how
many drivers would be striking from each depot.
Once again the anti-union laws have been used against democratic
decisions by workers to allow employers to use mere technicalities
to halt strike action. In 2007 CWU action was also prevented
on a technicality regarding information provided to the employer
by the union.
To make matters worse the judges ruled that the UK laws that
enable and encourage employers to stop industrial action using
technicalities did not fall foul of international human rights
conventions, particularly Article 11 of the European Convention
on Human Rights (left), even when 90% voted in favour of strike
action. Judges said giving notice of the ballot result earlier
and giving an "anodyne" explanation concerning the
information about those expected to take part in the action
were not too onerous for unions.
The judgment also cited arguments put to them by the employers'
QC that the laws were a fair balance between different interests
because the Labour government's reviews and changes to the
law left the Tories anti-union laws largely intact.
We say the judges should have asked whether the timing of
the notification of the result of the ballot to the employers,
or the giving of an anodyne explanation amounted to restrictions
on the exercise of the rights of the union and its members
that were not necessary in a democratic society (following
the approach in Article 11). Obviously such technicalities
cannot ever be said to be necessary in this context, but they
serve business very well in thwarting workers' rights.
This case lands another significant blow by British judges
against working people and those fighting for the exercise
of fundamental rights and freedoms for unions.
Read more:
Metrobus
Workers' Fight for Equal Treatment Halted By Anti-Union Laws
Dec 2008
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