Royal Mail wins High Court injunction to stop potential Christmas postal strikes

Festive deliveries disruption averted after judge finds union subverted ballot and interfered with voting

Workers say their employer reneged on a major agreement over job security and employment rights(Getty)

Royal Mail has won a High Court injunction preventing postal workers from carrying out planned strike action.

The decision prevents walkouts by up to 110,00 workers in the run-up to Christmas but was immediately labelled an “outrage” by union bosses.

Royal Mail brought legal action against the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) after members voted to back walkouts by 97 per cent on a turnout of 76 per cent. But a judge ruled on Wednesday that the CWU had interfered with the ballot.

Workers say their employer reneged on a major agreement over job security and employment rights, including plans to reduce the working week and reform pensions.

The company denied this and claimed that the CWU had broken rules on industrial action to maximise the turnout and the yes vote.

Nationwide strike action could have hampered postal voting at next month’s general election, Royal Mail claimed.

During a hearing in London on Tuesday, Royal Mail’s lawyers said that the union encouraged members to intercept their ballot papers at work, vote immediately, then share images of themselves returning the papers using the nearest post box on social media.

Royal Mail’s rules state that workers cannot open post at delivery offices unless a manager has authorised them to do so.

The CWU argued there was no evidence of ballot interference and that “legitimate partisan campaigning” by the union in favour of a yes vote did not violate the rules.

Mr Justice Swift said in his judgment: “This was an interference that was accurately described as improper. Strike ballots should be postal ballots. Each voter should receive a voting paper at home.

“What CWU did was a form of subversion of the ballot process. It was an interference with voting.”

Responding to the decision on Wednesday, the CWU tweeted: “The High Court has ruled against us. Genuinely this is an utter outrage. 110,000 workers vs the establishment.”

The union will now consider whether to launch a new ballot or potentially appeal the decision.

The CWU claims that up to 50,000 jobs are at risk at Royal Mail, as well as at Parcelforce, under plans to separate it from the postal business.

Terry Pullinger, the CWU’s deputy general secretary, has said that the union and its members were facing the “fight of our lives” to defend the postal service and their jobs.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said last month: “Royal Mail is a Tory-Lib Dem privatisation failure. Its sell-off led to shareholders creaming profits off the top while running down the service.”