Lotpax quite reasonably says
Union officials are elected by the members, so they have to deliver something to keep tenure.
However Mrs Justice Cox said on 17 December 2009
Before the ballot closed on 14th December BA wrote to UNITE on 11th December, asking them to confirm the accuracy of the numbers and asking whether or not voluntary redundancy leavers had in fact been included in the figures. Unite did not reply.
Also from
Mrs Justice Cox
In the absence of a response from the union, BA wrote a more detailed letter on 14 th December, i.e. the day that the ballot closed. This informed the union in the clearest terms that BA was concerned as to the inclusion of voluntary redundancy leavers in the process. Rather than respond to that concern, however, UNITE served on BA the result of the ballot and the notice of industrial action.