Contractor loses court bid to block strike by electricians

Balfour Beatty has lost its bid to the High Court to block a proposed strike by sparks working for the firm鈥檚 engineering services division.

Judge David Eady refused to issue an injunction to block the strike action in a written judgment this morning.

Unite members at Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) voted by two to one to strike over the termination the 40-year-old Joint Industry Board (JIB) wage agreement earlier this month. The ballot was then challenged by the contractor in the High Court.

Unite claims that BBES is the 鈥渞ingleader鈥� in a group of seven contractors trying to bring in the 精东影视 Engineering Services National Agreement (BESNA) which it says would lead to de-skilling and poorer terms and conditions.

However, BBES said low turnout meant only a fraction of workers had actually voted in favour of striking and bid to try to overturn the result- something it had previously achieved following a ballot in November.

Unite had agreed not to call for strike action until the results of the hearing were known

The union has said strike action could hit 鈥渉igh profile projects鈥� such as Crossrail, Sellafield and Grangemouth.

In his ruling Justice Eady said: 鈥淚t seems to me that, so far as reasonably practical, every person entitled to vote had a voting paper sent to him/her and also was afforded a convenient opportunity to vote by post.

鈥淚ndeed, I think it fair to say that Unite went to considerable lengths to ensure democratic legitimacy which might be thought to exceed what would ordinarily be expected.

鈥淚 am not persuaded that Unite is threatening or intending to do anything that would be unlawful. There would be no ground, therefore, on which to grant an injunction.鈥�

Len McCluskey, general secretary for Unite, said: 鈥淎ll too often employers are trying to use the courts to undermine the democratic will of their workforces, when they should be putting their energies into resolving disputes.

鈥淲e trust that employers will now recognise that disputes aren鈥檛 settled in the court room but around the negotiating table.鈥�

 

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