BA cabin crews to strike after talks breakdown

THOUSANDS of British Airways cabin crew are to stage a three-day strike following the breakdown of talks aimed at resolving a row over sickness absence, pay and staffing, it was announced last night.

The flight attendants will walk out from January 29 to 31, threatening travel chaos for the airline’s customers.

The Transport and General Workers Union warned there will be two further three-day stoppages in February unless the dispute is resolved.

The union held several meetings with BA bosses last week following a massive 96% vote for industrial action by the 11,000 cabin crew workers, but the union announced last night negotiations had broken down.

Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the union, said last night: “British Airways management have completely failed to engage with the union on our compromise proposals and appear unwilling to listen to this loyal, professional and hard-working group of employees.

“Indeed management had preferred to provoke. Our members are fed up with being bullied into coming to work when sick and with the divisions caused by poverty levels of new entrant pay scales.

“They see customer care being cut and the airline’s reputation damaged by bungling management.

“BA now have seven days to take their responsibility seriously and work with the union to avoid disruption to services and inconvenience to passengers. We are ready to resume talks at any time.”

The cabin crew complained a new regime introduced 18 months ago on sickness pay meant they were forced to work when they were ill. BA insisted it was merely cutting high levels of sickness absence. The airline accused the union of walking away from the talks and warned that if the strike goes ahead it will cause “massive disruption” as well as further damage to the airline, which has been hit in recent months by security and weather problems.

A spokesman said: “We are extremely disappointed that the T&G has walked away from negotiations and issued a direct threat to the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of our customers.

“We remain committed to the search for a peaceful outcome to this dispute and we urge the union to withdraw this totally unjustified strike threat to give negotiations the fullest chance.

“Despite its public rhetoric, the union in private remains resolute in its refusal to talk with us about any degree of change.”

BA insisted it had not imposed any changes about sickness absence but stressed it wanted to negotiate new ways of working with its cabin crew to help put the airline in better shape to succeed in the “highly competitive” industry.

A spokesman continued: “We have recognised the genuine concerns of our cabin crew about our absence management policy and at the T&G’s request have tabled serious proposals to change the way the policy is applied to cabin crew. However, in our discussions so far, the T&G has hardened its stance.”

BA said the union was now demanding a “significant” pay rise as well as a return to the “excessive” levels of sickness absence experienced before the new policy was introduced.

According to BA, the union was asking for a relaxation of the policy which the airline said had reduced average levels of absence among cabin crew from 22 days a year to 12 days. Furthermore, the union’s demand for a revision to pay scales would see some workers receive rises of up to 18% while the union’s total demands would increase the company’s annual cost by £37 million (€56m).