The 48-hour strike was due to start 03.59 hours Thursday 20th January and run until 03.58 hours Saturday 22nd January and follows a ballot by members endorsing strike action and “action short of a strike” in a dispute with DLR operator Serco Docklands over new pension arrangements and the introduction of new grades.
Sitting at the High Court, Mr Justice Tugend ruled the strike was not lawful as the ballot notices were not valid.
Explaining his decision to grant an injunction, the judge said: “I find the defendant is not likely to succeed (at trial of the action) in establishing that the notices were valid in that the purported explanation is not that required by law.”
162 union members had voted for strike action with 36 voting against while 175 voted for action short of a strike with 21 against.
A spokesman for the RMT said a “democratic ballot with a massive majority in favour of action has been overturned on an alleged technicality that would not have made any difference whatsover to the outcome of the vote.”
Serco Docklands MD David Stretch said the company was “frustrated at the RMT union for bringing our employees to the brink of unnecessary industrial action.”
