BA strikes to hit Easter holidays as cabin staff stage seven-day walkout

Grounded: British Airways faces a spring of discontent with planned strikes
12 April 2012

British Airways cabin crew today announced seven days of strikes, threatening the Easter plans of hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers.

Unite union bosses ordered a three-day walkout to take place on 20, 21 and 22 March to be followed by a four-day strike from 27 to 30 March — the weekend before Easter when many families start their break.

Britain is facing a spring of discontent, with the BA action being announced as news came of strikes across the Tube and rail network.

Last night British Airways caved in to demands and offered the union a new deal to try to avert the action.

The airline promised to backtrack on pay cuts and caved in over moves to cut one cabin crew member on Eurofleet and World Wide long-haul flights — the equivalent of 184 crew.

It is understood the new offer would put a crew member back on some long-haul flights and not reduce pay, but Len McCluskey, Unite assistant general secretary, said the offer was so poor, "we are unable to recommend it".

Downing Street said Gordon Brown hoped a negotiated solution could still be found. "We certainly would hope that a negotiation is reached so that people don't need to go on strike," said a No 10 spokeswoman.

More than 12,000 cabin crew will be asked to vote on the new offer. It is expected that the result will be declared on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Mr McCluskey said: "Should our members accept the company offer, Unite stand willing to work with BA to restore its industrial relations, its image and its prospects, provided we have a willing partner on the management side.

"Should they turn the proposal down, then, in the absence of a better offer from the company before the dates I have announced for strike action, Unite will stand foursquare behind our cabin-crew members in their struggle against industrial dictatorship."

Months of negotiations over pay, job losses and working conditions between BA and Unite failed on Wednesday. Willie Walsh, British Airways chief executive, said the airline had to change to survive in an ever-competitive market.

The company lost £401 million last year and losses are forecast to increase over the current 12-month period.

Mr Walsh has made clear that BA, which carries 75,000 passengers a day, will not be grounded by strike action.

He said 1,000 volunteers were being trained to take the place of striking crew and that 5,000 more staff had said they would work in their place.

"We have also arranged to secure seats from other carriers so thousands more of our customers can reach their destinations," said Mr Walsh.

BA will hire 23 crewed planes from charter companies to help keep flights running from Heathrow if the strikes go ahead.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in