BA union pledges strikes over two straight weekends

London: British Airways (BA) cabin crew will stage a series of strikes over two consecutive weekends this month, beginning with a three-day walkout on March 20 and followed by a four-day action from March 27.

The first strikes by BA cabin crew in nearly 13 years have been called by the Unite trade union after a breakdown in talks over staffing cuts. The industrial action by up to 12,000 flight attendants has been timed to bring maximum disruption to BA, with the airline facing a struggle to reinstate a normal timetable between strikes.

BA carries around 75,000 passengers a day and the strikes will affect hundreds of thousands of passengers. The airline has pledged to run a significant skeleton service with the help of 1,000 volunteer cabin crew.

Unite announced it would ballot its 12,000 cabin crew members on a new offer tabled at the 11th hour by the airline, giving a glimmer of hope that the strikes could be averted.

The walkout will affect BA's 650 daily services. However, the airline has pledged to break the strike with 1,000 volunteer flight attendants drawn from the ranks of its non-cabin crew workforce, and is preparing to hire 23 airplanes, complete with their own trained crew.

The BA chief executive, Willie Walsh, said he hoped to operate a substantial proportion of the airline's Heathrow airport long-haul operations and a good number of short-haul flights.

BA has said it will operate its entire schedule from London City airport during the expected strike and has claimed more than two-thirds of its Gatwick-based crews will work normally.

Informal channels of communication are still open between BA and Unite via the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Brendan Barber.

Revoking cuts

It is understood that BA is willing to partially repeal the staffing cuts at the heart of the dispute and is considering putting around 184 cabin crew positions back on its 239-plane fleet. However, Unite wants 700 positions returned to BA aircraft and has proposed around £60 million-worth (Dh334 million) of cost savings to fund the proposal. BA says the figures are significantly short of its cost-cutting target.

Unite is also threatening to hold a consultative ballot over proposed changes to baggage handlers' contracts. If union members vote against BA's proposals an industrial action ballot will be held, although that move is several weeks away.

Unite argues it has been bypassed by BA, despite holding talks about the baggage handler contracts.

— Guardian News & Media Ltd