Leatherboy,
That is not exactly what happened. In the UK, to call a strike in a large company the union must ballot all eligible employees before going on strike. If more than 50% vote in favour, the strike can go ahead. What happened here was that 800 ex-employees of BA were included in the ballot, as they had recently accepted voluntary redundancy. The court ruled that the union had not followed the rules and ordered the union to cancel the strike. The union is now faced with having to re-run the ballot.
The courts have no powers to intervene in the fundamentals of the dispute itself. The ruling was entirely procedural, so it is not correct to suggest that the courts are "pro-company" and "anti-labour". However, so overwhelming was the ballot verdict, I doubt that even if the 800 ballots were excluded, the outcome would have been any different. BA have dodged a bullet, but more because of the imcompetence of the union leadership than for any other reason.
Gromit,
The strike is not over pay. In fact, BA Cabin Crew are the highest paid in the industry, with an average wage out of LHR of £29,500 ($40,000+ approx). A cabin manager can earn up to £50K. BA have imposed a cut in the numbers of cabin crew on Transatlantic and Long Haul routes from 15 per flight to 14. This was imposed when the negotiations deadlocked and the unions are objecting to the airline imposing conditions without agreement.
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