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High Court bid to halt Boxing Day Tube drivers' strike Drivers 'not working balloted' for Boxing Day Tube strike
(about 9 hours later)
A legal bid to stop Tube drivers walking out for 24 hours on Boxing Day in a row over pay will be heard later in the High Court. Aslef union officials created a "false mandate" by balloting Tube drivers for a strike on Boxing Day, the High Court has heard.
London Underground (LU) said only 42% of the members of Aslef union voted to go on strike and LU will challenge the validity of the strike. Lawyers for London Underground (LU) told the court drivers who were not scheduled to work on 26 December had cast their votes in the strike ballot.
Aslef said it wants triple-pay and a day off in lieu for drivers for working on 26 December - a bank holiday. LU is seeking an interim injunction to stop the 24-hour strike.
The union plans to strike again on 16 January as well as 3 and 13 February. Aslef wants triple pay and a day off in lieu for drivers for working on the bank holiday.
Drivers had walked out for 24 hours on Boxing Day in 2010 over pay and extra holiday. Its lawyer said LU's argument about the balloting was "misconceived".
Arsenal 'postponement' The union plans to strike again on 16 January as well as on 3 and 13 February if the row is not resolved.
Earlier, an Aslef spokesman said it does not expect LU's legal challenge to be successful and the court action would "increase ill-feeling". 'Long-running dispute'
Describing the threat of a strike as "disgraceful", Howard Collins, LU's chief operating officer, said the firm has a long-standing agreement with all of its trade unions which covers working arrangements on public holidays. In a written argument, Bruce Carr QC, representing LU, told Mr Justice Eder: "In short, [Aslef] included in the balloting constituency a significant majority of its members who could not in due course be called on to take strike action on 26 December 2011 as they were not rostered to work on that day."
A spokesman for Boris Johnson's office said the mayor was in "total support of the legal challenge". He said Aslef had "secured a false mandate by extending the right to vote to around 75% of members, who it could not reasonably have believed would be called on to take part in the industrial action."
Two of the traditional Boxing Day football matches in the capital are in doubt. Mr Carr said LU was seeking an injunction because damages would "plainly not be an adequate remedy" for LU.
Arsenal are due to decide shortly whether to delay their match with Wolves to 27 December. "There is, in addition, the consequence of substantial inconvenience to the travelling public and to the shops and businesses which depend on a Boxing Day service being provided," he added.
Oliver Segal QC, for Aslef, argued that the injunction should be refused and said the strike had been called over an industrial dispute.
Mr Segal said: "The dispute is long-running and similar industrial action was taken last year.
"The present industrial action was called following a ballot of Aslef's train and instructor operator members working for LU, around half of whom returned ballot papers, of whom 92% voted in favour of the strike action called for."
LU's arguments against the strike ballot was "novel" but "misconceived", Mr Segal said.
He said: "London Underground confuses 'strike' [in the narrow sense of not attending for a rostered shift] with 'taking part in a strike' in the wider sense as understood both industrially and by the courts.
"That concept is not limited only to employees who are 'on strike', in the sense that they are rostered to work at the relevant time and do not attend for work, but includes all employees who associate themselves with the strike with a view to furthering its aims, for instance, by agreeing in solidarity not to cover for rostered workers or supporting the strike by attending a picket line or refusing to cross a picket line."
Matches in doubt
Earlier a spokesman for Boris Johnson's office said the mayor was in "total support of the legal challenge".
Two of the traditional Boxing Day football matches in the capital are presently in doubt because of the strike.
Arsenal are due to decide whether to delay their match with Wolves to 27 December.
A club spokesman told BBC Sport: "Arsenal are considering postponement to 27 December as one of the options."A club spokesman told BBC Sport: "Arsenal are considering postponement to 27 December as one of the options."
Chelsea say they are monitoring the situation ahead of their Boxing Day derby against Fulham. Chelsea said it was monitoring the situation ahead of the Boxing Day derby against Fulham.