BRITISH AIRWAYS will go to the UK high court today to apply for an injunction against a 20-day cabin crew strike due to start tomorrow, as the Unite trade union played down the chances of securing a compromise in last-ditch peace talks.
A day of frantic attempts to halt the prolonged walkout will include meetings between both sides and the UK transport secretary, Philip Hammond, and an afternoon summit at the Acas conciliation service.
The first of four five-day walkouts is scheduled to begin at 12.01am tomorrow. BA has pledged to blunt their impact by flying seven out of 10 passengers to their destinations with the help of auxiliary crew and chartered aircraft.
The other walkouts are due from May 24th, May 30th and June 5th, with a 24-hour gap between each. BA has said it will be impossible to restore services in the interim periods and that Unite is effectively striking for 23 days.
BA will hope to repeat its high-court victory in December, when a 12-day Christmas strike by cabin crew was injuncted due to strike ballot irregularities.
BA will argue at the hearing in front of Lord Justice McCombe that Unite did not, as required under the 1992 Trade Union Act, ensure that members were told of the result as soon as possible.
In a statement to the court, BA warns that the walkouts will cost it £138 million (€162 million). “Loss and damage arising from the proposed strike action has been conservatively estimated at £138 million, even with the full implementation of contingency measures whereby BA hopes to operate all its services out of Gatwick airport and between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of longhaul flights and 50 per cent of shorthaul flights out of Heathrow,” it said.
Tony Woodley, the joint general secretary of Unite, said he did not expect face-to-face talks with BA at Acas, the conflict resolution body, to succeed.
The airline and union have negotiated the outlines of a settlement that addresses the original cause of the dispute – staffing cuts – but cabin crew have rejected the proposal because BA is refusing to reinstate travel perks that were withdrawn from the estimated 5,000 flight attendants who took part in seven days of strikes over consecutive weekends in March.
Pouring cold water on the chances of a deal, Mr Woodley said several weeks of talks with BA chief executive Willie Walsh about reinstating the staff travel scheme and giving lenient treatment to 55 cabin crew on disciplinary charges had failed. “This is not a man who is for turning,” he said. “It is a person behaving in an unnecessary, bully-boy way.”
With Unite’s strike mandate due to run out next month, Mr Woodley said he was prepared to hold another ballot on industrial action over the sacking of five cabin crew and the removal of staff travel.
Mr Walsh has dismissed claims of bullying and union-breaking as “nonsense” and is adamant that the airline is duty-bound to pursue disciplinary allegations. – (Guardian service)