BA strike will continue until end of August
British Airways’ mixed fleet cabin crew has extended its strike until the end of August, including the bank holiday weekend.
It would mean the cabin crew will have been on strike for the whole of July and August.
Unite the union said this would have forced British Airways to spend millions on ‘wet leasing’ aircraft to cover the striking cabin crew.
Unite is ‘pursuing legal action’ on behalf of crew who have been sanctioned for taking strike action, including the removal of bonuses and travel concessions.
Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said: "The airline needs to get around the negotiating table and start recognising that punishing low paid workers fighting for fairer pay is no way for a ‘premium’ airline to behave.
"The offer to reinstate travel concessions for striking workers is half-hearted and fails to deal with the money British Airways has taken away from low paid workers.
"In robbing striking workers of hard earned bonuses the airline has sought to sow division and effectively blacklisted workers for taking lawful industrial action.
"Last week’s massive profits show British Airways can afford to tackle poverty pay rates and settle this dispute by dropping its divisive sanctioning of striking cabin crew.
"We would urge British Airways to start treating our members fairly and drop the bullying tactics to avoid the escalating cost and disruption that continued industrial and legal action brings."
BA said all customers will be able to fly to their destinations, despite the strikes.
"We recognise the uncertainty that Mixed Fleet Unite’s threat may cause and would like to reassure customers that the vast majority of our services will be unaffected," it said.
Gatwick, London City and Stansted flights are planned to operate as normal and BA plans to operate ‘virtually a full schedule’ of flights to and from London Heathrow.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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