* Court overturns injunctions barring strikes
* Unions say ruling paves way for future action
* Not major step forward for union rights-lawyer
By Michael Holden
LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - British unions said a court ruling on Friday which overturned injunctions blocking planned strikes by railway staff had big implications for future disputes likely to be sparked by government spending cuts.
London's Court of Appeal threw out injunctions which had prevented the RMT and Aslef rail unions holding strikes because of small, technical issues with how the ballots were conducted.
The injunctions followed similar decisions made by the High Court in other disputes which unions said had seriously curtailed workers' ability to stage walkouts.
"Before today's ruling it was effectively impossible to take legal strike action in this country," said Keith Norman, Aslef's General Secretary.
"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."
Aslef's planned action involving staff on the London Midland rail line was stopped in December by the High Court after it emerged ballot papers had been wrongly given to two out of 600 union members.
RMT's planned 48-hour strike in January on the Docklands Light Railway, which serves the financial district of Canary Wharf, was also blocked on technical issues relating to the union's membership details.
DISPUTES EXPECTED TO ESCALATE
With the coalition government pushing ahead with an agenda of massive spending cuts to address Britain's budget deficit, currently running at about 10 percent of national output, industrial disputes are expected to escalate this year.
Unions leaders have already agreed to coordinate action, including possible strikes, to protest at the austerity measures which are expected to bring about the loss of 330,000 public sector jobs.
"This morning's judgment is not only a victory for staff on Serco Docklands and RMT's 80,000 members but it is also a massive victory for the seven million trade unionists in the UK," said RMT General Secretary Bob Crow.
Employment lawyer Steve Blunt, expert on trade union issues, said the ruling may not be as far-reaching as unions hope.
"It might just prevent this trend in the High Court of saying any discrepancy at all could be grounds for an injunction. But I would take some convincing that it's going to be a major step forward for union rights," he said.
Tough anti-union legislation pioneered by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in the 1980s makes strikes difficult to organise.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he would consider calls for new laws to ban strikes unless they were backed by a majority of staff, not just those who took part in the ballot, but says there are no proposals to do so. (Editing by Louise Ireland)