Unite announces 12 days of strike action for BA cabin crew as the Christmas holidays get underway.

Cabin crew working for British Airways (BA) have voted overwhelmingly for “12 days of strikes” over Christmas much to the devastation of nearly one million travellers.

Unite the union announced yesterday (14 December) that BA cabin crew members had voted yes to industrial action in a long-running dispute over potential redundancies and schedule changes.

The 12 days of strikes are due to start just as the Christmas break gets underway on 22 December and could potentially cause devastation for one million people who have booked flights over the Christmas period. BA’s immediate reaction to the news labelled it as “unjustified and a huge over-reaction to the modest changes we have announced for cabin crew.”

BA has suffered huge financial losses during the economic crisis and announced in September its biggest ever loss for the first-half of the year – a drop of £292 million.

In an attempt to claw back some of its losses the airline has announced redundancies and has cut the number of cabin crew on long-haul flights from 15 to 14.

Len McCluskey, Unite Assistant General Secretary, said the union recognises that BA is going through difficult times and said that because of this it has tried to negotiate a happier conclusion, but said staff wanted to be treated with “dignity and respect”.

The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) says they would like to see a quick resolution to the dispute: “BA’s cabin crew have voted to strike but there can still be a resolution of this conflict, even at this, the eleventh hour.

“The last thing we want to see is the travelling public inconvenienced and BA’s long term future damaged,” said Jim McAuslan, BALPA’s General Secretary.

BA employs 13,500 cabin crew, who have an average annual salary of £29,000 according to BA, double that of Virgin Atlantic crew who average £14,000.

BA Chief Executive, Willie Walsh, said: “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.”

Many of those families who had their flights booked to visit relatives abroad or simply take a Christmas holiday will undoubtedly be sparing little sympathy with the cabin crew. A comment in The Times said: “It is not likely that anyone deprived of a Christmas holiday is going to make such a fine-grained distinction. Far more likely that they will make a mental note never to fly BA again.”

The 12 days of strike action could do more harm to BA than even Unite wish to happen. If customers decide that this disruption goes one step too far then there are plenty more airlines waiting on the sidelines ready to pick up their custom. According to the BBC’s Martin Shankleman, if BA offers to refund passengers affected by the strikes, the cost to the company could be immense.

BA said it will try to keep its customers informed at all times regarding schedule changes.

With the airline industry already suffering more than its fair share of trouble since the start of the global turmoil, the loss of the UK’s national carrier could be potentially devastating. Passengers may have much more sympathy if Unite could choose an alternative course of action, rather than causing potential misery to a million people at what should be a happy time of year amidst the economic gloom.
 
Maybe the cabin crew who are complaining about a change in schedule should be thankful that they still have a job, unlike the thousands who have lost their jobs across many different industries all over the world.