国际英语新闻：British high court rules BA's planned Christmas strike illegal

LONDON, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- British High Court ruled on Thursday that a strike by British Airways (BA) cabin crew planned for Christmas is illegal.

    The court granted the order to BA, which argued that the trade union Unite's balloting process contained "serious and substantial irregularities."

Unite called a strike from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2 in a bitter row over jobs, pay and working conditions after its ballot showed a 92-percent majority in favor of industrial action.

    During the proceedings, BA said it was taking legal action to protect customers from the "massive stress and disruption" the stoppage would cause.

Airline passengers await their flights inside Terminal 4 at Heathrow airport, west of London. British Airways launched legal action on Tuesday to prevent cabin crew striking for 12 days over Christmas and the New Year, with up to one million travellers facing festive travel chaos

    The union responded to the decision that a fresh ballot would be held unless the dispute was resolved, but it is not clear if Unite will try to appeal the decision.

    BA said in a statement that "there was never any need for a strike and we hope that Unite will take this opportunity to reflect before deciding its next steps."

    "In recent days, we believe Unite has formed a better understanding of our position and of the ways in which we could move forward," the statement said.

British Airways has launched legal action to stop cabin crew striking for 12 days over the extremely busy Christmas and New Year period in a row over working conditions.