Unite chief offers BA peace talks in media 'glare'

A union leader representing British Airways cabin crew today offered to conduct talks in the “full glare” of the media in a bid to break the deadlocked row which led to a fresh walkout this morning.

Derek Simpson, joint leader of Unite, said people would be able to see how “unreasonable” the airline’s chief executive, Willie Walsh, was being if they could witness the negotiations.

Interviewed on BBC 1’s Andrew Marr show, Mr Simpson said: “I prefer these negotiations to be in front of a camera. Let the world see what this is all about. If people could see what he is doing, they would know who to blame.”

Cabin crew today started their latest five-day walkout following a five-day strike which ended on Friday and seven days of action in March, which Unite said had cost BA more than £100m.

BA said it was concentrating on its contingency plans, pledging to fly more passengers than during the last strikes after claiming more cabin crew were reporting for duty.

Mr Simpson repeated that the dispute could be resolved if BA fully restored travel concessions taken away from crew who have taken industrial action.

He also claimed complaints about his behaviour during previous negotiations, when he sent messages via his Twitter account, were a “digression”.

He said: “It is all about confidence of management in the workforce and of workforce in the management. Clearly there has been a breakdown. If we could get the confidence back a deal is do-able.”

Mr Simpson claimed Mr Walsh ended talks on Friday by saying he would meet again, but only after Unite’s annual conference, which opens in Manchester tomorrow and continues until the end of the current strike.