British Airways Claims Another High Court Victory

Apparently the well known UK airline, British Airways, has just claimed yet another victory in High Court against the union that is representing some of its airline staff, Unite. The airline went on to claim that modest changes made to on board conditions did not breech staff contracts as Unite had claimed.

The airline had been locked in negotiations with Unite union for the past three months. These negotiations came after some modifications to workers’ contracts were made. The airline claims that it made these changes to help itself deal with sliding profits. Recently British Airways reported a pretax loss of £292 million in the six months to November, which is traditionally its most profitable period. Even more losses have been confirmed for the company, however.

Cabin crew members are expected to walkout on British Airways on March 1st, as part of their ongoing dispute over working conditions heats up yet again. Unite claims that the airline is in breach of their contract by imposing changes. Unite says that their current crew members are fixed by collective agreements with the unions and were expressly incorporated into individual contracts.

British Airways, on the other hand, said that these are cost cutting measures. The airline said that such changes were needed if the airline is going to survive. Many experts have been siding with British Airways on this one, saying that cabin crew members seem to forget that if British Airways is not able to turn a profit, then they will not have a company to work for. In that regard, then the strike would not matter anyway.