News

BA cabin crew reject latest offer

20 Jul 2010 by BusinessTraveller

BA cabin crew have voted against the latest offer from the airline, aimed at halting the prospect of further strikes this summer.

The Unite ballot showed 3,419 members voting against accepting the offer, with 1,686 voting in favour. The result raises the prospect of further strike action, although the low turnout has led BA to issue the following statement:

"We are encouraged by the result of this ballot which shows that 73 per cent of our cabin crew did not reject our offer.

"With only around a quarter of our cabin crew voting against the deal, support for Unite is ebbing away.  The union has lost the moral authority to represent the views of our cabin crew.  

"Such a low turnout raises serious questions for Unite and shows it does not have a clear mandate to reject our offer.  We would urge them to come back to the table to sign the agreement and end the dispute.

"We have made a fair offer that includes two years of guaranteed rises in basic pay on top of annual increment pay increases and gives certainty to crew about their future earnings.  There are no cuts in pay and our current Heathrow crew remain the best rewarded in the UK airline industry.

"After the worst recession in aviation history, we must reshape ourselves to achieve the kind of sustainable profitability that will enable us to invest for the benefit of our customers."

Unite says it will now meet with cabin crew representatives "to consider the next steps". BA's crew have so far carried out 22 days of strike action this year, which Unite says has cost the airline an estimated £150 million.

For more information visit ba.com, unitetheunion.com.

Report by Mark Caswell

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