BA staff strike talks adjourned

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Talks between British Airways and unions to avert a strike by cabin crew over sick leave, pay and staffing will resume later after a day of deadlock.

Chief executive Willie Walsh said he was prepared to negotiate but added there was "no justification" for industrial action.

Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) members have already backed action that could lead to a three-day walkout.

The union accused BA of "riding roughshod" over staff concerns.

It added that the overwhelming support for a strike put the onus on BA to change its approach.

'Meaningful discussion'

Chief executive Willie Walsh acknowledged there were genuine concerns among staff about how the firm managed sickness absence - and said he was prepared to negotiate with the union.

He said it would continue to tackle the number of sick days taken by cabin crew which now averages at 12 per person per year. Until two years ago, that figure was 22 sick days.

"These issues can be addressed through dialogue," Mr Walsh said, but insisted there was "no justification" for taking strike action which would threaten the people's holidays and other travel plans.

Mr Walsh also insisted that a proposed deal on pensions, designed to cut the airline's £2.1bn deficit was the best possible option.

A spokesman for BA said: "We will be meeting with T&G officials again tomorrow [Wednesday] in a bid to find a peaceful outcome that would protect the travel plans of our customers.

"We have made clear to the T&G our commitment to keep talking for as long as it takes in our search for a breakthrough."

Bad publicity

The pension dispute is separate to the row with cabin crew.

The meeting was taking place at BA's Heathrow Airport base on Tuesday afternoon.

The union has not named strike dates, and said it felt a negotiated settlement was still a possibility.

With the outcome of talks between BA and the union uncertain, shares slipped 0.5% to 540 pence by the close of Tuesday trading.

The walk-out threat is the latest problem to hit the airline in recent months.

In December, domestic flights from Heathrow were cancelled for three days because of fog - a move that could cost the airline as much as £15m.

As well as delayed flights, there was further bad publicity as a backlog of more than 10,000 bags checked in by BA passengers piled up at the airport.

Meanwhile in September, BA said August's terror alerts cost it £40m as the airline was forced to cancel of more than 1,000 flights.