British Airways (BA) Strike News

British Airways staves off planned 20 days of action by cabin crew after Unite union’s strike ballot is ruled invalidThe travel plans of nearly 2 million British Airways passengers have been spared huge disruption after the airline won a high court battle to stop a 20-day cabin crew strike going ahead tomorrow.In a move that will dismay trade unions, Lord Justice McCombe granted the third injunction against a major transport strike in six months, following successful legal action against a 12-day Christmas strike by cabin crew and a national rail strike over the Easter holidays.BA said tonight: “We are delighted for our customers that Unite’s plans for extreme and unjustified strike action cannot go ahead.”Ash disruption permitting, we will aim to restore a full flying programme at Heathrow by the weekend. We will also offer a full programme at Gatwick and London City, as planned.”We hope all sections of Unite, including the leaders of the cabin crew branch Bassa, will take this opportunity to pause and focus on achieving the early and peaceful end to this dispute which the travelling public and all our employees want.”The BA strike was due to run from 18-22 May inclusive, then from 24-28 May, 30 May-3 June and 5-9 June, with the airline warning that the industrial action would have cost 138m and thrown the travel arrangements of 1.8 million customers into doubt.However, BA had pledged to fly seven out of 10 passengers to their destinations if the walkouts went ahead, using more than 1,000 auxiliary flight attendants and a fleet of chartered jets.Unite, the union that represents cabin staff, had been criticised by BA and politicians for pressing on with the walkout at a turbulent time for the airline industry after a volcanic ash cloud caused an unprecedented six-day shutdown of UK airspace last month.The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, had described the proposed strike as “self-defeating”.Unite and its main cabin crew branch, Bassa, wanted to push ahead with BA’s longest walkout because the airline is refusing to fully reinstate staff travel perks that were withdrawn from the 5,000 crew who joined seven days of walkouts in March.There are fears that Unite could be liable for compensation of at least 250,000 and that the crew who joined the March strikes could be threatened with severe disciplinary sanctions because they took part in a strike that has been ruled illegal, albeit in retrospect.The airline won on a technical point, arguing that Unite failed to carry out its statutory duties by making sure that everyone balloted was told the result.When balloting for strikes, unions should give those who took part a detailed breakdown of the result, as required by section 231 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.The union’s barrister, John Hendy QC, said the airline had not been able to find even one employee who did not know the result of the ballot, which voted overwhelmingly for strike action.The benches of court 23 were packed today with BA cabin crew waiting to hear whether they would be forced to work tomorrow.The RMT union, which saw an Easter strike injuncted by the same legal argument, warned this morning that a verdict in favour of BA would constitute the “ripping up of a basic human right”.Bob Crow, the RMT general secretary, said: “We warned after the [Easter] judgment that it bent the anti-trade union laws even further in favour of the employers and so it has proved. There is no doubt that this new Con-Dem government wants to effectively outlaw strikes in publicly used services before they swing the axe at our hospitals, schools and fire stations, and the courts are the battering ram to make that happen.”TransportBritish AirwaysAirline industryAir transportTrade unionsTransport policyHelen PiddDan Milmo Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/17/british-airways-strike-called-off

British Airways (BA) is to go to the High Court later to try to stop a series of four five-day strikes by its cabin staff due to start tomorrow (May 18).At the same time, both the government and conciliation service Acas will be making attempts to get BA and the Unite union to reach a settlement. Earlier this month Unite members rejected the airline’s fresh deal on pay and working conditions. Details of that deal were not given, but Unite said BA had failed to restore the travel perks it withdrew from staff involved in the previous strikes in March. The airline successfully blocked a strike over Christmas on the grounds that the union unlawfully balloted cabin crew who were leaving the airline. Today BA lawyers will argue that the follow-up ballot was also flawed because Unite did not observe the precise rules of how to announce the result. A Unite spokesman has said the union would “vigorously defend our ballot”. “We have already responded to the company, and notified them that we have fully complied with the law,” he said.

Source: http://news.flightmapping.com/10/05/17/ba-takes-court-action-to-block-strike_2488.html

British Airways cabin crew have once again voted to go on strike, but unlike the previous attempt over Christmas the unions have been slow to announce dates for their industrial action.

Stuck in the middle of this ongoing dispute are the flag carriers loyal passengers. In an effort to help, Cheapflights has responded by producing the following Q&A for travellers.

Source: http://news.cheapflights.co.uk/2010/02/ba-strike-qa-questions-passenger-advice-walkouts-easter/

Airline says it is delighted after high court judge rules that changes to staffing levels are “less than extreme”British Airways cabin crew today lost their high court bid for a permanent injunction preventing the airline from imposing cost-cutting proposals.BA bosses argued they were entitled unilaterally to reduce cabin crew complements on board worldwide and European flights as these are not terms of individual cabin crew members’ contracts.But the union Unite said the airline was in breach of contract by imposing the changes as the existing crew complements were fixed by collective agreements with the unions and were “expressly incorporated” into individual contracts.Unite had agreed “unwillingly” to work the new schedules pending today’s ruling by Sir Christopher Holland at London’s high court on 10 test cases representative of about 5,400 claimants who are among 13,400 cabin crew employed by BA.It is reballoting its 12,000 cabin crew members at BA for industrial action, with a result due on Monday.Its counsel, John Hendy QC, has said the changes would “materially and detrimentally affect the health and wellbeing of staff and passengers on board the flights”.BA has maintained that, while there would be a modest increase in work output for cabin crew, there was no safety or security risk whatsoever and the granting of an injunction would be a “commercial catastrophe” in the face of global recession and rising fuel prices.It said the new crewing levels had merely brought BA into line with what its competitors were already providing and what the airline had introduced – with the union’s agreement – at Gatwick airport.BA said it was “extremely pleased” with today’s ruling.”Unite’s central demand over the last three months has been that we reverse these changes, despite the severe financial impact this would have on the company at a time when we are facing a second year of record annual losses,” the airline said.In his written judgment, Holland said he did not think it was “apt” to regard the collective agreement relating to crew complements for inclusion in individual contracts.”What I am reading is what it is: a negotiated fleet collective agreement apt to cover planning for and deployment of 11,500 employees; it is not the stuff of 11,500 individual contracts.”He said he accepted evidence from the union that the changes could put a strain on staff and make it difficult for them to deliver a satisfactory service.He also accepted that, should there be an emergency during a flight, the cabin crew could be left shorthanded. However, crew complements remained significantly above the Federal Aviation Authority minimum.Holland said the changes were “less than extreme” and were not unreasonable, given the company’s financial situation.He added that the impact upon cabin crew could only be resolved through negotiation that “balances the demands upon the employee with the unavoidable realities of the current pressures upon management”.He granted permission to appeal.In December the high court ruled that Unite’s plans to strike for 12 days over the Christmas period were unlawful as it had sent ballot papers to employees who were taking voluntary redundancy and would have left BA by the time action took place.British AirwaysTrade unionsLawJames Sturcke Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/19/ba-cabin-crew-injunction-cuts

British Airways’ 50m loss smaller-than-expected

British Airways has announced it made a pre-tax loss of

BA cabin crew to vote on strike over jobs and pay

Planned Christmas strikes were deemed illegal by the High Court

Cabin crew at British Airways are to begin voting on whether to strike, in a long-running dispute with management.Staff were due to walk out over Christmas until a court ruled the action illegal because of the way it was balloted. The new ballot closes on 22 February, which means action could be taken as soon as 1 March, although the union has said it will not strike over Easter. The Unite union is angry at BA’s plans to cut jobs and pay. It warned that if the airline recruited other staff to replace them during the stoppages, it would put passengers’ lives at risk. The union said the experience of the cabin crew had recently saved a passenger’s life. Len McCluskey, Unite’s assistant general secretary said: “Cabin crew’s dedication and skill kept a person alive when others had given up hope. BA should have nothing but praise for its loyal and dedicated cabin crew.” BA says any training programme for replacement staff would meet strict safety standards. BA lost more than

The Times is reporting that union leaders representing British Airways’ cabin crew have agreed to hold talks with the airline this week in an effort to settle a dispute that threatens to cause major disruption to passengers.Even as Unite prepared to meet with management for the first time since talks collapsed before Christmas, the union was pressing ahead with plans to ballot members for a second time on potential strike action.A High Court judge granted an emergency injunction against a 12-day cabin crew strike planned for the Christmas period because the union had included staff who had already taken voluntary redundancy.The union remains opposed to changes to cabin crew rosters—one steward has been removed from all flights, two from some long-haul services—which it says were imposed by BA. The company is equally adamant that the changes it introduced in November will remain in force. Nevertheless, the two sides appear willing to return to the negotiating table at the TUC.The company says that is committed to a severe cost-cutting agenda as it struggles under record losses. Its own analysts predict that the airline could lose as much as $1.2 billion this year as higher fuel prices and fewer premium passengers hit revenues.BA announced that passenger numbers fell by 4.4 per cent last month on an annual basis to 2.4 million.

Source: http://www.travelagentcentral.com/united-kingdom/british-airways-and-union-resume-talks-19133