Virgin Atlantic cabin crew vote on pay offer

Cabin crew at Virgin Atlantic were voting today on a pay rise offer worth 5.3% over two years, in a ballot which could eventually lead to industrial action at the airline.

Almost 3,000 staff taking part have been advised by their union, Unite, to reject the offer, following seven months of negotiations with management.

Unite said the offer does not keep pace with the annual 4.8% rate of retail price inflation effective on April 1 this year.

National officer Brian Boyd told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “We are concerned that Virgin Atlantic are undervaluing the contribution that cabin crew are making to their business.”

If Unite members reject the offer in today’s consultative ballot, the union will move on to a second vote, this time on industrial action, said Mr Boyd.

“We are hopeful that we can still resolve it,” he said. “But the company have left us with no other pathway other than to ask our members what they think of that deal.

“Cabin crew... are quite clearly saying to the company that we don’t consider this to be an acceptable resolution.”