Many flights grounded or cancelled during last BA strikes
British Airways have responded defiantly to the five days of union strike action planned for next week by saying that they will fly the majority of travellers to their destinations on time.
Upon the recommendation of workers’ union Unite, BA cabin crew have rejected a peace offer from the company and will stage five days of strike action starting on Tuesday 18th May. The range and number of complaints on both sides is extremely complicated and deep-seated.
The strike is set to affect around 150,000 passengers hoping to fly next week, with many flights being cancelled. Travellers are now waiting to hear if their flights will be operating or not.
BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh has called the strike action as ‘pointless’ and described Unite as:
“…a cynical and calculating trade union, willing to stretch the boundaries of truthfulness and integrity”.
He explained that as BA are perfectly happy to negotiate further on working conditions and pay for cabin crew, Unite’s decision to call strike action was “disproportionate”. Speaking of the disruption to passengers, Mr Walsh stated:
“We are confident that many crew will ignore Unite’s pointless strike call and support the efforts of the airline to keep our customers flying.”
BA has published the first draft of a contingency plan to deal with the situation, estimating that at least 70 per cent of their passengers will be able to reach their destinations. They have arranged that if travellers can’t fly on BA aircraft, spare seats will be found for them on specially chartered or other airlines’ planes.
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