The High Court has refused London Underground an interim injunction to stop a strike by ASLEF driver members on Boxing Day.
The union said it would strike for 24 hours over Boxing Day unless its members scheduled to work received triple pay and a day off in lieu.
London Underground has said only 42% of ASLEF members voted for strike action whilst the union said 92% voted in favour.
ASLEF said they were ‘delighted’ that the Court ruled their strike to be legal but said ‘there is a great deal of frustration about the time wasted in Court that could have been spent around the negotiation table’.
General Secretary Mick Whelan said:
“Whilst we’re obviously very pleased with today’s verdict, we feel that two days have been wasted going through the courts when we could spent that time finding a resolution to this dispute.”
Howard Collins, LU’s Chief Operating Officer, said:
“The Aslef leadership is calling strike action over an outrageous claim for even more money to work on a day for which their members are already being paid.
“We have done everything we can to avert this needless action, including reducing the impact of Boxing Day working on staff and, as a last resort, taking legal action.
“We remain ready at any time before these four strike days to work with the union’s leadership to resolve this issue through talks, and I urge them to get back around the table.
“We will run as many Tube services as we can and extra buses will operate on the busiest bus routes. However, the action taken by the Aslef leadership is likely to cause serious disruption to Tube services across the network affecting the Christmas holiday plans of many Londoners.”
Union members have also scheduled strikes for 16 January, 3 February and 13 February 2012.
