Will BA strike ruin your holiday plans? (From Swindon Advertiser)

Will BA strike ruin your holiday plans?

9:27am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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TALKS to avert a damaging strike by British Airways cabin crew will resume today as time runs out on efforts to break a deadlocked row over cost-cutting.

The airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, and the Unite union's joint leader, Tony Woodley, spent yesterday locked in delicate discussions at the TUC headquarters in London.

They broke up just after midnight and both sides will get back together this morning. Thousands of BA cabin crew are due to walk out tomorrow, causing chaos for thousands of passengers.

As he left the talks, Mr Walsh declined to say how fruitful they had been, saying only that they would resume.

Mr Woodley stressed that while discussions were continuing, there was some hope as he again appealed to the airline to put back on the table an offer it withdrew last week.

But his union was planning to hold a mass meeting of cabin crew at Sandown Park racecourse in Surrey today to rally the workers ahead of the strike.

BA cabin crew are planning to stage a three-day walkout from tomorrow, followed by a four-day stoppage from March 27.

Even if a last minute deal is agreed, it will be too late to reinstate the flights already cancelled by BA.

Will you be affected by the BA strike action? If so, leave a comment below, email the newsroom at newsdesk@swindonadvertiser.co.uk or call us on 01793 501806.

Comments(12)

politicrat says...
10:48am Fri 19 Mar 10

It is established now that the high wages in the transport sector are only achieved by the Unions hold up a vast part of society hostages.
Blaclmailing companies into paying up premium wages and then charging customers higher train/air fares.
This is why in the UK our trains tickets are so expensive and why most of us can't afford to fly BA.
I agree that the Unions have a role to play in the defence of their members but it shouldn't be at the expense of the customers and taxpayers.
Looking at the corporations with a strong union membership, it is obvious that the Unions are a brake to changes and flexibility, look at the Post office, BA, train/underground, education, NHS, steel Industy, all of them bloated and inefficient.
These companies have no future, and unions should remember what happened to many US car makers over the last few years, many of them failed to make the necessary changes to stay competitve because of Union pressure and went bust.