BA seeks injunction to prevent strike action

The airline will seek an injunction in the High Court on Monday, just 24 hours before the first of four five-day walkouts is due to be held.

The move came just hours after the conciliation service Acas said it had asked BA and the Unite union to attend peace talks to try to break the deadlock over jobs, pay and staffing levels.

BA said in a statement: "The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 requires unions to send everyone eligible to vote details of the exact breakdown of the ballot result.

"This point of law was clarified in April following Network Rail's successful application for an injunction to stop a strike by the RMT.

"We do not believe Unite properly complied with this requirement. We wrote to the general secretaries of the union yesterday asking them to explain to us how they discharged this obligation and, based on Unite's replies, we believe that they failed to comply with the legal requirement.

"On this basis we have applied to the High Court for an injunction to stop the 20 days of strikes planned from Tuesday."

BA said that with just days to go before the strikes are due to begin, it was "critical" that it continued with its contingency plans to deal with strikes.

The airline urged its staff to volunteer to work during the strikes, planned over 20 days.

Members of Unite are due to walk out from May 18-22 inclusive, then from May 24-28, May 30-June 3 and June 5-9, the last strike ending just days before the start of the World Cup.

A Unite spokesman: "We will be vigorously defending our ballot and members against this move by BA.

"We have already responded to the company, and notified them that we have fully complied with the law.

"The only way to settle this long-running dispute is through negotiation. A solution is not to be found in the courtroom."

The two sides have been in dispute for over a year over cost-cutting plans, including staff reductions on flights.

BA previously took legal action to prevent a threatened 12-day walkout over Christmas, but Unite subsequently held seven days of action in March.