Legal victory puts strike action back on track

A good day for workers in court for once today with the news that the RMT and ASLEF have won in the Court of Appeal.

I haven’t seen the full judgement but it is clear that the scope given to employers by recent case law to frustrate democratic decisions to take strike action has now been restricted somewhat.

This doesn’t mean that UNISON branches and activists can relax. We still need to make our membership records as accurate as they can be if we want to be able to ballot for action, sectionally, locally or nationally.

However, since the main argument for delaying coordinated strike action against the attack on our pensions has been that we must make sure our membership records are up to date for the ballot, this case must mean that the balance of argument has shifted in favour of earlier action.

This is a good thing since the sooner we take action the stronger we will be and the better our chance of a satisfactory outcome.

Full marks to our transport union colleagues for pursuing legal action in the interests of the movement as a whole.

I hope that UNISON will show similar courage in following Hogg –v- Dover in supporting cases against employers attacking our members’ conditions of service – particularly in those branches where Regional officials have taken on the running of the branch!