BA to take legal action against strike

Strike ballot "invalid" airline claims

British Airways is set to launch a legal battle against the threatened 2-day strike from December 22 by cabin crew members of the union Unite.

A court case to establish the validity of the ballot will be heard at 2pm today (December 16), after which BA and Unite are set to meet for official talks for the first time since the strike was announced.

BA said: "We are commencing legal action in an attempt to protect customers from the massive stress and disruption threatened by Unite's decision.

"We have written to Unite, highlighting irregularities in the union's strike ballot, which we believe renders the ballot invalid."

Unite will also be attending the injunction hearing. The union said the accusations were "completely unfounded".

"We're going to attend to vigorously defend our balloting procedures, and we are confident that they will be found without fault," a union spokesperson told ABTN.

After the court case, a meeting is planned between BA officials and Unite's joint general secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley.

A BA spokesperson said the airline would be attending the meeting, at 3pm today, on the understanding that there were "no preconditions".

About one million passengers are set to have their journeys cancelled during the strike from December 22 to January 2 over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

BA also warned that if the strike went ahead, flights during the 48 hours before and after the stoppage would also be affected.

The dispute is over BA's decision to cut cabin crew from 15 to 14 on long haul Boeing 747 flights.

Unite claims this is a change in working practices and was implemented without consulting the union.

It has begun its own legal action against BA and the case is due to be heard in the New Year.

Unite called a strike ballot of its 12,000 cabin crew members at BA and the result, announced on Monday (December 14) show a nine to one majority in favour of striking, on an 80% turn out.

Len McCluskey, Unite's assistant general secretary, said: "We have taken this decision to disrupt passengers with a heavy heart and we are hoping that the company can still avoid it happening."

But BA, which is also seeking redundancies, said it would not back down on its stance.

The airline which reported a £292m loss in the first half of its current financial year said it was "extremely disappointed that Unite is planning massive disruption for hundreds of thousands of our customers over the Christmas/New Year holiday period.

"A 12-day strike would be completely unjustified and a huge over-reaction to the modest changes we have announced for cabin crew which are intended to help us recover from record financial losses.

"Unite's cynical decision betrays a total lack of concern for our customers, our business and other employees within British Airways."

The airline said its offer to cabin crew was "very fair and reasonable" adding: "It reduces no-one's terms and conditions, and gives most crew pay rises of between two and seven per cent this year and next year.

"British Airways' cabin crew are already the best rewarded in the UK airline industry."

Willie Walsh, BA's ceo, said: "A strike is senseless - and we urge Unite to draw back. We will not be reversing our changes to onboard crew numbers.

"They have allowed us to accept more than 1,000 requests for voluntary redundancy - and those former colleagues have left the business.

"Unite must understand that there can be no return to the old, inefficient ways if we want to ensure long-term survival in the interests of our customers, shareholders and all our staff.

"They have no justification for threatening such extreme action. It is very sad that they are seeking to use the Christmas holiday plans and family reunions of hundreds of thousands of people to try to pursue their case."

www.ba.com   www.unite.com