The government is seeking a High Court injunction to prevent border staff taking strike action on the eve of the Olympics. Photo: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

London 2012: Olympics border staff strike challenged in High Court

Wednesday, July 25, 2012
7:56 AM

The government is seeking a High Court injunction to prevent border staff taking strike action on the eve of the Olympics.

The Home Office said the government believes there was a “procedural error” in the ballot of members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.

It also repeated its calls for the PCS leadership to call off the strike ahead of the Olympics.

Home Office minister Lord Henley said the decision to call the strike on Thursday was “opportunist and wholly unjustified”.

He said just 12 per cent of the union’s membership voted in favour of strike action in the row over jobs and pay.

Speaking before the legal action was confirmed, a PCS union spokesman said: “There are some very serious issues at the heart of this dispute - not least plans to cut 8,500 Home Office jobs, a third of the workforce.

“We can all see the damaging effect these cuts are having on the department’s ability to function, whether at the borders or in the passport service.

“Our preference is to resolve these by negotiation, and we would hope ministers would rather sit down and talk to us, instead of going to the courts.”