Unite Union to Ballot on British Airways’ Latest Offer

New reports now show that the Unite union will be balloting its members on British Airways’ new offer. However, unfortunately for British Airways and soon to be travelers, the union is going to recommended that its members do not take the deal.

The Unite union will ballot its 12,000 staff members on the decision over the next week or so. This choice came up after negotiations between the airline and union broke down without any kind of agreement. A spokesperson for British Airways said that they are extremely disappointed that Unite is urging its members to discard the offer. They continued that, despite their financial circumstances, they have put a very fair offer on the table for Unite. The airline believes that this offer addresses all the concerns the union has expressed during the past 14 months. This includes pay and allocation of routes and crewing levels on some flights.

British Airways went on to say that Unite is showing callous disregard for their customers and their business only a few days after they had begun their recovery from the longest and costliest airspace shutdown in history. The union’s recommended rejection is clearly out of touch with the majority of crew who worked normally during Unite’s previous failed attempts to ground the airline.

The Unite joint general secretary, Tony Woodly, said that he is disappointed that talks with the company have concluded without producing an agreement that they can recommend to the cabin crew. Despite important progress made in a number of respects, management has refused to budge on victimizing cabin crew, who had their travel concessions withdrawn as a result of the strike.