Originally Posted by
Often1
The argument that industrial actions are within management's control is a bit silly.
Of course BA can avoid the action by simply capitulating to the demands of staff. But, that is not realistic and defies even commercial reasonableness as a standard.
CEDR must have thousands of claims on roughly the same facts. Doubt it will step outside what amounts to precedent, if not formally so.
Control isn't just about dealing with a strike, it's about how a company prevents a strike situation arising in the first place. It's a problem that every company faces.
Good industrial relations should never get to the point where a set of workers feel the need to walk out and good management shouldn't allow their customers become caught up in strike actions.
If it's not within the companies control to sort out their industrial relations then who's responsibility is it?
CEDR will use a single adjudicator to assess a claim along these lines. Any decision by that adjudicator will be their personal decision, so it could go either way. No precedent will be set. The only way to get a definitive answer to this would be for someone to run a test case through the courts.