British Airways Now Faces Another Strike Threat

British Airways cabin crew are ready to vote in a new strike ballot on January 22^nd of this year. This new ballot aims to strengthen the trade union’s position during talks with the airline. In other words, the union is using this strike ballot as a threat to the airline if they do not comply with their demands.

Voting is expected to take around a month to complete and strike action could start as soon as March 1^st if the estimated 12,700 crew affiliated with the union agree to it. Unite said it had made it clear that preparations for a ballot are underway, and the talks at the TUC are continuing.

The union’s aviation officers, Steve Turner and Brian Boyd, said that they were determined to hold a new ballot after a strong vote in favor of industrial action was ruled unlawful by the High Court last month. This ballot will open on January 22^nd after the statutory one week’s notice to British Airways.

The union has also made note that it has updated its membership database in a bid to avoid a repeat of the error, which allowed British Airways to take the previous ballot to the High Court over claims that it contained votes from a number of members who no longer worked for the airline. The court ruled that the strike was unlawful as almost 900 cabin crew members voted despite having taken voluntary redundancies. As a result British Airways was able to overturn the strike vote and secured a 92 percent majority on an 80 percent turnout.