British Airways to Meet With Union to Avoid Strike

British Airways, once again, has high hopes that a strike can be avoided by meeting with Unite union. Both sides have agreed to meet and try to reach a new settlement over pay and work conditions.

The first meeting between the two sides ended with no agreement, and this lead to the announcement of a 12 day strike over Christmas and the New Year. However, British Airways took it before the courts and was able to get the courts to stop the strike, because some of the people that voted for a strike had already agreed to take voluntary redundancies, meaning that these people no longer worked for British Airways, yet they were voting for a strike action.

As of now, Unite still remains very opposed to the reduction in cabin crew teams. One steward has been removed from all flights and two have been removed from long haul services. However, British Airways is opposed to changing the plans that they have already put into action.

As of now the airline has not said if Willie Walsh, who is the airline’s chief executive, would be attending the meetings or not. The joint general secretaries of Unite, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, said that they well be approaching these talks in a constructive spirit. They want to seek and find a settlement that both sides can agree to. They want to address the real concerns of British Airways and, at the same time, get the cabin crew what they want. However, to do this, one side is going to have to give in a little bit.