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Unite has spared British Airways (BA) the ignominy of flight cancellations over the 2010 Easter weekend. The union expressed a desire to see “families travel in confidence,” but made no promises about future industrial action.
It is not the first strike to have bothered BA and Heathrow. During December, a High Court judge ruled that industrial action by the airline’s cabin crew was illegal, as the ballot included votes from people who had taken voluntary redundancy.
Up to 12,000 stewards could have graced the picket lines over the Christmas holiday, enough to ground BA’s entire fleet.
An Easter strike would have been detrimental to BA’s efforts to climb out of insolvency. Last year, BA asked staff members to work without pay in a bid to secure the future of the airline, but money remains tight.
Unite, which is one of the largest unions in the UK, has announced a fresh ballot for the weeks between the 25th of January and the 22nd February. If successful, BA stewards could strike from the 4th March 2010.
BA has refused to roll over, however. A spokesperson for the firm has warned that severe cutbacks will be the only consequence of industrial action, affecting staff travel benefits and the standard of company hotels.
The airline has also frozen pay rates for the next two years, and is encouraging other staff members to retrain as stewards. BA has come to view the strikes as a direct attack on its livelihood.
Crew members are concerned that BA has been reckless with its cost cutting measures, changing contracts on a whim and making too many people redundant.
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