British Airways strike bites but passengers fly
British Airways cabin crew began a three-day strike Saturday which will force the cancellation of hundreds of flights, but the airline said many of its passengers were able to travel.
The Unite union said 80 percent of its 12,000 cabin crew members walked out on the first day but, amid a war of words between the two sides, BA insisted there had been a good turnout at its hubs at London Heathrow and Gatwick.
As a result, the airline said it was reinstating some short and long-haul flights over the next few days and expected two-thirds of passengers to fly.
Members of Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, walked out at midnight Friday after talks with BA chief executive Willie Walsh on a dispute over working conditions broke down in acrimony.
More than 1,000 flights were set to be cancelled in the initial phase of the action — the first by BA cabin crew for 13 years — with a second walkout to follow for four days from March 27, targeting the busy Easter holiday period.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned the strike, saying it was “in no-one’s interest” and would cause “unacceptable inconvenience” to passengers.
He urged BA management and workers to hold fresh talks as soon as possible.
But the main opposition Conservatives have accused him of a weak response, because Unite is a major donor to his ruling Labour party.
Commentators, noting that railway signal workers also voted Friday to strike in the coming weeks, have said the action could severely damage Brown ahead of an election expected on May 6.
BA initially said a total of 1,100 flights out of the approximately 1,950 scheduled to operate during the first strike will be cancelled.
But it said it expected to handle 49,000 passengers each on Saturday and Sunday, compared to the 75,000 average for a normal weekend day in March.
The airline is using staff who are not striking and is offering travellers seats or leasing planes and crews from more than 60 other carriers, including budget airline Ryanair.
In a video message, Walsh said the contingency plans had worked “better than expected”.
“We’ve had a great turnout at Gatwick — incredible, every single cabin crew rostered to fly today has come to work and we’ve had about 50 percent of our cabin crew arrive at Heathrow, so they are voting with their feet,” he said.
Unite, however, claimed planes were stacking up on the ground, with 85 at Heathrow alone, and said that in one two-hour period during the day just 10 planes left Heathrow instead of the normal 50.
The union’s joint leader Tony Woodley on Friday angrily accused BA of wanting “to go to war” after the talks broke down.
Walsh said the strike was “deeply regrettable” but defiantly promised passengers that many would be able to travel, dismissing concerns that unions in France and Germany would carry out action in sympathy with Unite.
BA is attempting to revise working conditions as part of a cost-cutting push, which the union says will lead to the introduction of a “second tier workforce on poorer pay and conditions”.
Cabin crew on some routes are paid almost twice as much as staff at their rivals Virgin.
The airline has warned staff taking part in the strike they will lose lucrative reductions on long-haul flights.
BA, which is attempting to merge with Spanish rival Iberia, said last month it expected to notch up a record loss in the current financial year due to weak demand for air travel.
It made a better than expected pre-tax loss of 50 million pounds (57 million euros, 79 million dollars) in the last three months of 2009.
Source: AFP