The most recent legal flare-up between British Airways and Unite (representing BA cabin crew) has dominated the headlines and for once it was not just labour lawyers debating whether there was a right to strike in the UK.
The most recent legal flare-up between British Airways and Unite (representing BA cabin crew) has dominated the headlines and for once it was not just labour lawyers debating whether there was a right to strike in the UK. In the High Court, BA got its injunction on the basis of what looked like a technicality: a failure to notify individual members of eleven spoiled ballot papers. Could the democratic will of BA cabin crew be overridden by such a failure on the part of the union? Ultimately the Court of Appeal (by a majority) held not. In so doing, the court seemed to acknowledge the need to recognise a “right to strike” without pronouncing on the legal basis of such a right.
The right to strike
The traditional (Denning-esque view) is that there is
