British Airways Union Renews Strike Talks
The cabin crew of British Airways are planning to start a strike on Saturday that will last for 3 days, while they will also begin striking on March 27 for 4 days. These strike dates were announced last Friday after negotiations between the airline and Unite, the union representing the cabin crew, broke down again. However, now it looks like the union is ready to resume strike talks again.
On Tuesday, the joint general secretary of Unite, Tony Woodley, said that they are ready to get back to serious negotiations by putting an offer on the table and making it public. They want to be sure that all the flights operated by British Airways get off the ground, he added. Unite also said, however, that there needs to be a serious approach to the worries of the cabin crew, adding that the airline is only conning their customers if they think that a worse offer will avoid the strikes.
Strike talks have been going on for months, after British Airways introduced cost-cutting measures, which included reducing the number of cabin crew on long-haul flights out of Heathrow Airport from 14 to 15. Cabin crew have been worried about their jobs, but this strike has the potential to crush the airline, which will render all out of a job.
If British Airways and Unite still can’t come to an agreement, the airline already has a flight schedule in place. They announced on Monday that they will still be able to serve about 60% of their passengers, which is about 45,000 people a day. However, the other around 30,000 passengers a day will be out of luck.