Mrs Justice Cox, sitting in the High Court, agreed with British Airways (BA) that Unite, the union representing cabin crew, had not correctly balloted its members on the proposed strike. This was because the ballot for a proposed twelve-day strike included workers that had already accepted voluntary redundancy.

Around nine hundred cabin crew were balloted despite taking voluntary redundancy, which meant they would not be working for the airline at the time of any industrial action. Cox ruled that the balloting error breached the 1992 Trade Union Act. The injunction means the twelve-day strike, in protest over job losses and a pay freeze, cannot now go ahead.

BA said it was delighted by the decision while Unite, which organised the ballot, said it was a ‘disgraceful day for democracy’. It said it would poll members again for industrial action after Christmas. A second ballot would take at least a month to organise. Mr Simpson and Unite’s other joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, said the dispute was ‘far from settled’. ‘While we have never wanted this dispute, it is a disgraceful day for democracy when a court can overrule such an overwhelming decision by employees taken in a secret ballot,’ they said. The original ballot saw 92.5% of those balloted vote in favour of industrial action.

Industrial relations experts said Unite might struggle to secure a second big mandate from members for industrial action. A number of cabin crew questioned the length of the planned strike and Mr. Simpson, Unite’s joint general secretary, had said earlier this week that it was ‘probably over the top’.

Because the union does not have a duty of care towards passengers, they have no right to sue the union, said Mark Meryon, industrial relations partner at the law firm Bircham Dyson Bell. ‘The threat of a strike is not enough to trigger a liability,’ Meryon said. BA’s ability to sue the union was also limited, he added