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BA staff to strike as talks fail BA staff to strike as talks fail
(about 5 hours later)
British Airways cabin crew are to strike for three days after talks broke down between the airline and unions. British Airways cabin crew are to strike for three days after talks broke down between the airline and the union.
They will stage industrial action between January 29 and 31 over sick leave, pay and staffing issues. The crew will stage industrial action between 29 and 31 January over sick leave, pay and staffing issues.
The Transport and General Workers Union said if there was no further resolution two more three-day strikes would happen in February. The T&G union said if there was no further resolution two more three-day strikes would happen in February.
BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh said previously there was "no justification" for industrial action. BA said it was "extremely disappointed" by the news. It will let people booked to fly between 29 January and 16 February change the date of their trip.
The union held several meetings with BA bosses last week following a massive 96% vote for industrial action by the 11,000 cabin crew workers. 'Chaos' for passengers
Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the union, said negotiations had now broken down. Cabin crew have complained that a new regime on sickness pay, introduced 18 months ago, mean they are forced to work when they are ill.
'Fed up' BA insisted it was merely cutting high levels of sickness absence. The average of 22 days had been reduced to 12 but this was still above the UK average of seven per worker per year, it said.
He said: "British Airways management have completely failed to engage with the union on our compromise proposals and appear unwilling to listen to this loyal, professional and hard-working group of employees. The union held several meetings with BA bosses last week following a 96% vote for industrial action by the 11,000 cabin crew workers.
"Our members are fed up with being bullied into coming to work when sick and with the divisions caused by poverty levels of new entrant pay scales. Jack Dromey, T&G deputy general secretary, said British Airways management had "completely failed to engage" with the union.
"They see customer care being cut and the airline's reputation damaged by bungling management. "Our members are fed up with being bullied into coming to work when sick, and with the divisions caused by poverty levels of new entrant pay scales," he said.
"BA now have seven days to take their responsibility seriously and work with the union to avoid disruption to services and inconvenience to passengers. We are ready to resume talks at any time." The union said it was ready to resume talks at any time, but BA said the union was refusing to talk to the airline.
Cabin crew have complained that a new regime introduced 18 months ago on sickness pay meant they were forced to work when they were ill. BA said it had made "serious proposals" to change the way the sickness policy was applied. And it said the union was now demanding a "significant" pay rise, whereas it needed to remain competitive.
BA insisted it was merely cutting high levels of sickness absence. Recent problems
Airline troubles Chief executive Willie Walsh said the strike would cause "chaos" for hundreds of thousands of customers.
The walk-out threat is the latest problem to hit the airline in recent months. It would also cause further damage to the airline, which has been hit in recent months by security and weather problems.
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. In December, domestic BA 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.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.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.