British Airways (BA) cabin crew mounted picket lines outside airports for the second weekend in a row today as another wave of industrial action began in a bitter row over jobs and cost cutting.
Unite said early indications were that its 12,000 members involved in the dispute were strongly supporting the industrial action. Hundreds of strikers gathered at a football ground close to Heathrow before being taken to several picket lines around the airport.
The airline said it will fly more than 75 per cent of customers booked to travel during the four days of strike action and expects to handle more than 180,000 of the 240,000 people who had planned to travel from March 27th-30th.
A number of short haul flights left Heathrow this morning and there were arrivals from overseas destinations. Most long haul services do not leave Heathrow until later in the day.
BA said around 18 per cent of its passengers were re-booked to travel on other carriers, or changed the dates of their BA flights to avoid the strike period.
The two sides continued to clash on the cost of the dispute, with Unite claiming BA will be left with a bill of £100 million because of the current strikes and last week’s three day walkout, twice the £7 million a day that BA told the City about earlier this week.
Unite officials said today that BA had leased fully crewed planes from eight companies, and was again using volunteer pilots and management to stand in for striking cabin crew.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: “The vast majority of BA staff, including thousands of cabin crew, are pulling together to serve our customers and keep our flag flying.
“At the same time, I feel really sorry for those customers whose plans have been ruined by the Unite union’s completely unjustified action. Despite the union’s promises, this strike has affected the Easter holiday plans of thousands of hard-working people.”
Mr Walsh stood firm on the airline’s decision to withdraw travel perks from striking cabin crew, saying that staff
knew they would lose their travel concessions if they joined the three-day walkout last weekend. Unite accused BA of “unacceptable anti-union bullying” by taking away the travel perks, but Mr Walsh denied this.
The union has insisted that any peace deal must now include giving back travel concessions to cabin crew, as well as reinstating a number of staff who have been suspended as a result of the dispute.
PA