Balfour Beatty went to the High Court on Tuesday with an injunction to restrain Unite from proceeding with a strike voted for by 295 staff last week when its members at Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) voted by two to one for strike action.
The judgement in BBES' case to injunct Unite's ballot has now been reserved for hearing until early next week. Unite is urging BBES to use the next few days to return to the table and find a negotiated solution.
Commenting, Unite national officer, Bernard McAulay, said:
“Balfour Beatty’s failure to recognise the strength of feeling among skilled workers is prolonging a long and bitter dispute. We will not bow down to bully boy tactics either in the workplace or the court room.
"This dispute will not be solved by Balfour Beatty’s continued attempts to undermine legitimate strike votes. The only way forward is by Balfour Beatty to actively engage in meaningful negotiations and recognise the importance of the existing collective agreements, which have served the industry well for decades.”
The union warned that BBES has lost the confidence and respect of its long established workforce and is unnecessarily prolonging a long and bitter dispute, describing BBES as “the ringleader of gang of seven breakaway employers who want to tear up the long-standing Joint Industry Boards agreements and impose new semi-skilled grades.”