Union urges airline boss to ‘come out of bunker’ and talk

LEADERS of British Airways cabin crew last night urged the airline’s chiefexecutive to “come out of his bunker” and hold fresh talks as a three-day strike over jobs and cost-cutting came to an end.

Thousands of passengers who had their journeys disrupted because of the walkout are braced for further problems because of a four-day stoppage due to start on Saturday.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, said he had not received any positive response from the company to his plea for fresh talks and added chief executive Willie Walsh’s silence was “deafening”.

BA said its contingency plans were continuing to work well around the world, maintaining it had added extra flights at Heathrow and Gatwick because more staff than expected had turned up for work.

The two sides continued to clash over the impact of the strike, with BA accusing the union of publishing information which had “no basis in fact”.

Among the claims made by Unite yesterday were that some aircraft had left Heathrow with their blinds down to hide the fact that few, if any, passengers were on board.

It is understood Mr Woodley has contacted TUC general secretary Brendan Barber about restarting talks which collapsed last week after BA tabled an offer Unite complained was worse than a previous one.

Mr Woodley visited picket lines around Heathrow Airport yesterday and addressed a rally, reaffirming that the union leadership remained ready for talks at any time before the next strikes.

“Willie Walsh’s silence is deafening. Where’s Willie? He has not been seen or heard from today while his business grinds to a halt,” he said.

“Cabin crew have sent the company the most powerful message over the last three days that they will not be cowed or bullied into accepting industrial dictat.

“I would like to hear BA’s board justify spending millions on a floundering strike-breaking operation when they turned down an offer of more than £55 million in cost savings from their own cabin crew.

“We estimate that BA may have spent as much as £18m on leasing airplanes over the last three days, and it is beyond dispute that most of its long-haul flights have been cancelled, and most of those which have taken off are half-empty or completely passenger-free.

“This is the economics of the madhouse which can only lead to suspicions that there is another, union-busting, agenda at work here.

“Trying to break Unite will break BA’s bank account. That is why it is time to talk. Pick up the phone, Willie.”

Striking staff were in a buoyant mood at the rally, many booing BA flights as they passed overhead and joining in chants aimed at Mr Walsh of: “Willie, Willie, Willie – out, out, out.”

One held a placard mocking the airline’s slogan, which read: “The world’s favourite picket line.”

Meanwhile, at Heathrow’s Terminal Five, disgruntled passengers faced further frustrations.

German couple Carolin and Stefan Marquardt were stuck in the terminal building for seven hours waiting for a flight home to Stuttgart – having cut short their holiday to India by a night.

BA said: “We are operating our planned schedule of departures at Heathrow and Gatwick and we have been able to add flights into our schedule at both airports over the weekend as well as today.

“Cabin crew are continuing to report as normal at Gatwick, and Heathrow levels remain above what we need to operate our published schedule.

“As a plc, British Airways is legally obliged to ensure that it does not release information that is misleading or inaccurate.

“ Any suggestion that information we have issued is untrue implies that the airline’s management is acting unlawfully.

“Unite and its cabin crew branch, Bassa, are under no such legal constraints. Unite has no way of obtaining accurate figures as to how many customers are on our aircraft or how many crew are reporting for work.”

“All the information Unite has issued , particularly in relation to the number of crew reporting for work, has been reliably sourced,” said Unite.