British Airways’ (BA) cabin crew today notified the airline that they will begin a second strike ballot in a week’s time, after their first vote for action was ruled unlawful by the High Court.
Unite, the union, said the move “follows the failure to yet secure an agreement between the two sides on the crucial issues of imposed changes to the workload and working conditions of the airline’s 13,000 cabin crew in talks which have been taking place over the past two weeks”.
Although crew voted overwhelmingly for action before Christmas, a High Court judge granted an emergency injunction against their 12-day strike planned for the Christmas period because the union had included staff who had taken voluntary redundancy.
Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Unite, who led the talks for the union this year, said: “We have been engaged in intensive discussions with the company over the last few days, but unfortunately we have not been able to secure an agreement yet.
“We therefore have to honour our commitment to give our members the voice they were denied by the courts before Christmas, and hold a fresh ballot for industrial action. In notifying the company of this, I have reiterated that we want talks to continue, and that the union is prepared to meet anyplace, anytime, to try and reach an agreement which addresses the real concerns of BA’s skilled, loyal and professional employees while giving the company the savings it needs to stay airborne.”
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He added: “I hope the company will make the best use of the time available before the ballot closes.”
Theresa Villiers, Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “This is grim news for passengers. People will be concerned to learn that Unite are continuing their efforts to disrupt travel plans and hold BA and the travelling public to ransom.”
Her comments were echoed by Bob Atkinson, of Travelsupermarket.com, a holiday and airline tickets price comparison site, which said: “It is wrong that holiday plans and business trips are being jeopardised while BA and Unite squabble about working practices and cutting costs. BA cabin crew...are amongst the best paid crew in the world.”