British Airways staff to meet union for strike talks

Nearly 2 million British Airways passengers are awaiting the outcome of talks between trade union leaders and cabin crew representatives today that could see the announcement of a lengthy strike by BA flight attendants. The joint general secretaries of the Unite trade union, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, will consider a request by shop stewards for 20 days of strikes starting as soon as next Monday. A walkout lasting nearly three weeks would affect nearly 1.8m passengers, but BA is confident that contingency plans used during seven days of strikes in March will again blunt the impact of any industrial action. Further walkouts are looming in the wake of last month's volcanic ash disruption after cabin crew rejected BA's latest attempt to resolve a dispute over staffing cuts last week. It is understood that Woodley and Simpson are sympathetic to a lengthy walkout, but have yet to commit themselves. Under one scenario discussed by cabin crew representatives last week, flight attendants would have walked out in four waves of five-day strikes. Officials below the Unite joint leadership have backed the 20-day strategy, but the ultimate decision over industrial action lies with the general secretaries. If the 20-day plan went ahead from next Monday, the airline would be disrupted until 8 June including half-term week. A trade union source said: "There are still discussions to be had about the length of any strike. But there is an acceptance that a lengthier strike may be what is needed to make the company see sense." In an indication of the deteriorating relationship between BA and cabin crew shop stewards, only a handful of flight attendant representatives will be able to attend the meeting because the airline has not released union officials from rostered duties, according to a trade union source. Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, has dismissed as "nonsense" claims by Unite and more than 100 industrial relations academics that he is embarked on a union-breaking exercise. The airline has repeatedly called on Unite and Bassa, its main cabin crew branch, to end the dispute over reductions in staffing levels on flights, which have been carried out without any compulsory redundancies. However, the dispute has mushroomed into a clash over the removal of staff travel perks from 5,000 cabin crew who joined the first phase of walkouts in March and the disciplining of 55 staff over incidents related to the industrial action. Woodley and Simpson urged cabin crew to reject a BA peace offer, which partially addressed the staffing cuts, because it did not fully reinstate the discounted BA travel scheme or pledge leniency to the disciplined staff, including a senior Bassa representative who was sacked last week. The new row over staff travel has raised the threat of a legal challenge from BA, after the airline wrote to Unite last week querying whether the union is preparing to strike over a separate issue that has not been subjected to an official ballot. The first wave of strikes, over two consecutive weekends in March, cost BA around £43m, with the six days of disruption due to the volcanic ash cloud costing a further £100m. BA is seeking reductions in its cabin crew budget because it is on track to lose around £1bn over two years.