Railstrike Averted By High Court - But The War Is Not Over!

Thursday’s high court ruling of a national rail strike was averted, but the war is far from over, as the RMT Union has insisted they are still prepared to strike in the future.

The high court ruled in favour of Network Rail, who granted an emergency injunction against the RMT Union.  With a threat of a rail strike out of the way, Gordon Brown is now firmly widely expected to call an expected May 6^th date for the General Election on Tuesday.  The TUC chief, Brendan Barber is blaming the Chancellor Alistair Darling for him to reduce the country’s budget deficits.  He has warned that if not, more strikes could be the way of action this year, following the Network Rail action and the recent cabin crew strikes from British Airways.

Millions of passengers would have been affected by the four-day strike, which would have started on Tuesday morning.  If the strike had gone ahead, only one in five trains had been expected to run.  In the ballot last week, 54% of those who took part in the RMT ballot voted in favour of a strike, but Network Rail’s claims were reliable that the ballot had been unconventional and unreliable.  Only 112 of 4,556 rail signallers were balloted, which showed a complete lack of inaccuracy.  Network Rail suggested that ‘Ghost Votes,’ were used for the ballot.  Some votes used even included signal boxes that have not been opened or used since the 1960’s.

Signal workers can now not strike on Tuesday and a few hours later, maintenance workers also called off their strike.  It means that now delays and cancellations after the Easter weekend are now very unlikely.  Network Rail said it had unearthed massive inaccuracies in the RMT ballot and that the Union had failed to comply with the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations Act.  Over 300 potential votes were not cast.  Areas such as Rugby were not balloted, whereas South Tottenham was.  At South Tottenham, eleven signallers were asked to vote, but Network Rail discovered that only three are employed in the area.

Meanwhile, no resolution is in sight with the British Airways cabin crew strike.  The crew have already taken part in seven days of strike action, and talks between the two parties, Unite Union and BA have grounded into deadlock again.  Both are still blaming one another and more chaos is predicted. 

For now, the rail strike is off, but it is far from finished.  Network Rail may have won this battle, but the war is far from finished.