by René Lavanchy
The Unite union was confident of forcing British Airways back to the negotiating table this week after it announced an overwhelming majority of cabin crew members had voted again to strike over reductions in staffing on long-haul flights.
The vote revealed on Monday gives BA a three-week window to negotiate with the union until the legal deadline for Unite to announce a strike date. Nearly 81 per cent of members returning ballot forms voted for a strike on a 78.7 per cent turnout. Both sides say that progress has been made in talks brokered by the TUC.
But Unite is also hopeful of success because it believes BA’s longer-term plans to recruit lower-paid crew to man a different fleet of planes – which are unrelated to the strike – are unsustainable. A union source said that some prospective rates of pay offered by BA would undercut lower-fare airlines such as Easyjet, and that it would be impossible for them to retain staff.
Unite is also certain that its lists of cabin crew members have now been cleaned of redundant staff. The union was prevented from taking strike action by a High Court ruling last year, after it emerged that some of those voting had left the company.
Assistant general secretary Len McCluskey, who has been leading negotiations with BA at TUC headquarters, said this week: “It’s only through negotiation – this will only be resolved by negotiation, not litigation and not intimidation.”
“The negotiations we’ve conducted, they’ve led us to believe that certain movement has been made in certain areas that can result in resolution. We are looking at all issues on the table. Nothing is precluded from discussion.” He added that staff had been subjected to “disgraceful pressure” and “bullying tactics” to vote against a strike.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “We believe some progress has been made in recent talks under the auspices of the TUC and we reiterate our wish to resolve the issues between us in the interests of our customers and all our staff.
“However, we will not allow Unite to ruin this company. Should a strike take place, we will do everything we can to protect our customers’ travel plans as far as possible.”
Reports this week suggested that the union was planning 10 days of strike action to allow the maximum number of staff to take part.
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