BA cabin crew set strike dates
Updated on 12 March 2010
British Airways cabin crew are to stage a series of seven day strikes later this month following the collapse of talks aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and working conditions.
Cabin crew have voted to strike for three days from 20 March and for four days from 27 March threatening travel chaos for tens of thousands of passengers.
The Unite Union held out a glimmer of hope that industrial action could be averted as it said it would ballot its 12,000 members on a new BA offer.
However since Unite's announcement this morning British Airways has since said the offer is no longer available.
In a statement the airline said: "Our offer to Unite was conditional on the union not naming strike dates. Because strike dates have been announced, Unite has invalidated the offer. It is no longer on the table.
"On Thursday, we had offered to let Unite extend their strike mandate period by three weeks to allow them to conduct a proper consultative ballot of their members. This was at Unite's request - but Unite has now changed its position."
This morning BA said it was "extremely disappointed" with the strike decision. The airline's chief executive Willie Walsh has accused union bosses of trying to "destroy" BA.
In an interview with Channel 4 News today he also pledged that customers could "re-route, re-book or refund" flights for the strike dates – but that he was "deeply sorry" about the disruption.
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BA has drawn up contingency plans to deal with the strikes, with up to 1,000 volunteer staff ready to work as cabin crew, including hundreds of pilots.
The airline has also said it will hire 23 fully-crewed planes from charter companies to help run flights from Heathrow.
Flights from London's City Airport, including long-haul services to New York, would operate normally in the event of a strike, while 70 per cent of cabin crew would work at Gatwick, meaning all long-haul and 50 per cent of short-haul flights would be unaffected, BA has said.
No specific details were given about flights from Heathrow in the event of industrial action, but Mr Walsh said a "substantial" number of long and short-haul services would still operate.
In the event of cancellations BA says some passengers can re-book or receive refunds for flights within a certain time period of the original date of travel.
Len McCluskey, Unite's assistant general secretary, said BA had turned down a "remarkable" offer from the union which he maintained would have given the airline everything it wanted.
"This offer gives the lie to the smears that these skilled and professional employees are mindless militants indifferent to BA's difficulties or are defending a privileged position.
"The company contests our calculations but quibbles over the precise costing of our concessions pale into insignificance compared to the losses BA will sustain in the event of an industrial dispute."
