Trade unionists won a historic victory today when High Court judges ruled that previous injunctions against strike action had been based on "traps or hurdles" for unions.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Association of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) won their appeal on Thursday against two injunctions which barred their members on the Docklands Light Railway from going on strike.
Lord Justices Mummery, Etherton and Elias overturned a previous ruling which said the unions' ballot notices to employers London Midland and Serco were not "as accurate as reasonably practicable."
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that his members were "absolutely over the moon.
"There is now a precedent in UK law that workers are entitled to strike," he said.
There is no right to strike action in British common law but it is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects industrial action as an extension of freedom of association.
The ruling's recognition of the right is a first in legal history.
"We've spent the last year in court with Network Rail - finally it's round one to us," said Mr Crow, who was also pleased that Serco had been ordered to pay the union's legal costs as it meant that the union was free to devote the money to its members.
Union delegates would meet next week to set dates for the strike, he added.
Aslef general secretary Keith Norman was equally delighted.
"Before today's ruling it was effectively impossible to take legal strike action in this country.
"If the employer could find the tiniest discrepancy, the courts would find in the employer's favour.
"Thanks to today's decision, a sense of justice and balance has been returned to industrial relations in this country," he said.
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