Judge’s ruling allows employers to stop workers striking

A disturbing new trend is emerging in industrial disputes with the willingness of the courts to directly intervene on the side of the bosses in preventing strike action by unions. The latest example of this is the management of Milford Haven port in South Wales who have successfully secured a High Court injunction against a 48-hour strike by 50 harbour pilots and launch crew.

The strike by workers over changes to their pension scheme was due to go ahead on 18th February, but the court issued sanctions against the union for not following correct procedure, ruling that notices of industrial action proposed by Unite did not fully comply with the 1992 Trade Union Act.

Unite has now issued the required seven days notice that the workers, who play an essential role in navigating large vessels, including gas and oil tankers, safely into port, will stage a 12-hour strike on 23 February. They will also start an overtime ban and work-to-rule starting on the same day. The port employers want to introduce changes to their pension scheme, final salary, and retirement age.

The implications are both clear and alarming; using the courts to prevent the right of workers to withhold their labour, where the high court plays an active role in trade union disputes. The strike itself was not unlawful, but the judge, in this case Mr Justice Sweeney, used the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act, as a legal tactic to impose a temporary injunction on behalf of the port authorities under the spurious “balance of convenience”.

The number of injunctions under the act has nearly trebled over the past year after London bus operator Metrobus, won their case in 2008 claiming a strike ballot was unlawful due to polling irregularities. British Airways followed suit putting a similar case to the courts to secure an injunction that overturned a 92% majority vote on an 80% turnout. The law courts are now seen as a useful political tool in challenging the action of striking workers.

Milford Haven is Britain’s sixth biggest port, handling a quarter of the UK’s petrol and diesel, with two oil refineries, two natural gas terminals and the UK’s largest petroleum tank farm. In 2009 it announced increased profits for third consecutive year in the busiest 12 months in its 50 year history handling its largest ever amount of shipping, a record 52.8 million gross tons

Unite’s national secretary for docks and waterways, said: “The fundamental issue here is the High Court intervening yet again, as they did in the BA cabin crew dispute, to undermine our members’ democratic decision to take industrial action.”