British Airways strike - update 12/3/10 - March strike dates named

jeanniebeanie_2

Mr_Lahey wrote: »

Strikes should be illegal.

Mr Lahey likes to light the blue touch paper and stand back..............:D

jcorbygas

I hope they advise soon when the strikes will be so that if necessary I can change flight dates, 2 hotel dates, car parking, and 2 very special activities I had booked and planned for!


If BA do go under due to the uncertainty re strikes thats quite a bit of union membership money Unite will lose out on!!

dickydonkin

worldtraveller wrote: »

Union bosses at British Airways will launch a new strike ballot in two weeks — meaning thousands of cabin crew could stage a walk-out at the beginning of March.

Unite aviation officer Steve Turner has written to 12,700 members telling them a new vote for industrial action will begin on January 22.

He said: "We are absolutely committed and determined to ensuring your voice is heard through this ballot."

The move comes just days after union leaders and BA held a first round of peace talks at the TUC — and it could hammer bookings for the lucrative Easter period.

A crippling 12 day Christmas strike by cabin crew over new pay and working conditions was only averted last month when a High Court judge ruled that Unite had broken the rules by sending ballot papers to 900 former staff.

The Sun

My opinion for what it’s worth, is that BA will fight the unions on this and sadly - whatever the outcome, there will be no winners - other than Virgin, Easyjet and many other carriers.

The reality is BA just cannot retain the favourable working conditions their staff enjoy. Their competitor’s staff have realistic T&C's that give them the edge over BA on operational costs.

The unions are on a different planet and I suspect they need to be seen to be doing something to justify member’s subscriptions - and I am a former union official!

As the miners found to their cost, being misled by their union leadership (who seemingly had other agendas), led to a humiliating climbdown and arguably started the slippery slide into the demise of their industry.

The airline industry and indeed BA are still in intensive care and any future industrial action may just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and just the prospect of industrial action in the coming months is having a detrimental effect on BA flight sales.

I am all for fighting for good working conditions and pay, but these Cabin Crew have a great job - for which many of the 3 million plus unemployed would relish. We are not talking about sending little boys up chimneys again here, but just a restructure of the business that will sadly result in some redundancies, but at least may give BA a fighting chance to survive in the future making the thousands of remaining BA employee’s jobs a little bit safer.

Debaser

This is incredibly frustrating, I've got a holiday to Tunisia booked for 28th March-4th April- the nightmare scenario is that only the outbound flight is within the strike dates- and as I booked with lastminute, I've got to phone them, actually, I'm going to need to find out where I stand, once the strike dates are announced, and if they overlap the holiday dates.

The most annoying thing is that we were upgraded (lol!) to BA flights when I booked the holiday- just made me giggle a bit, seeing as that may now screw the whole holiday! Fingers crossed it won't though.

worldtraveller

If Unite call a strike it is expected to set the dates later this week, when it holds a mass meeting on Thursday.

It has already promised not to call a strike during the Easter school holidays, which mainly start on Good Friday, April 2.

Unite has 28 days from the close of the ballot in which to take any action and has to give seven days' notice before such action.

It must therefore give notice no later than March 14 for action on March 21.

As long as some sort of action is taken - even a walk-out lasting just a couple of hours - the ballot's strike authority is still valid and no new ballot is needed.

FT

luci

They may be avoiding Easter, but what about the May Bank Holiday? Surely that would be the next prime date.

worldtraveller

luci wrote: »

They may be avoiding Easter, but what about the May Bank Holiday? Surely that would be the next prime date.

Unfortunately, unless the whole matter is resolved, there could of course be uncertaintly for months to come. Unite know this and it is of course a strong bargaining tool for them against BA due to the resultant financial damage that would cause.

Inactive

spurs_nut wrote: »

Because these plums who are going on strike and ruining everyones plans are overpaid as it is.

But it's not the staff that are to blame it's the communistic bigot leaders of unite who need locking up.

Actually I hope they do strike and bankrupt BA. I bet they won't be complaining about the current working conditions then.

Unions are outdated! Fact!

You will be quite happy when everybody has to doff their caps as they enter the workplace then.

kavics17

Just read this thread. I'm due to fly on 31st March, back on 5th April to Hungary. I used my airmiles for this flight, only paid £10-where would I stand on compensation if they decide to strike at that time?

Murphy_The_Cat

kavics17 wrote: »

Just read this thread. I'm due to fly on 31st March, back on 5th April to Hungary. I used my airmiles for this flight, only paid £10-where would I stand on compensation if they decide to strike at that time?

How much would you expect in compo ?