At midnight last night, cabin crew staff from the ‘world’s favourite airline,’ walked out to start a three-day strike that will have severe ramifications for many’s travel plans this weekend. British Airways is at the moment in a real mess, it doesn’t really matter who is to blame as the outcome is the same. Millions will be made miserable and frustrated by the current and upcoming planned strikes.
Ongoing talks between the airline and the Unite Union collapsed yesterday afternoon, after 48 hours of fruitless negotiation. The blame game has already begun, following the failure to agree, and both parties are blaming the others for the failure in negotiations. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has demanded the failure of talks as ‘unacceptable’ and has called for the strike to be called off immediately. He is unlikely to get his wish though, it is quite possibly the worst nightmare he faces, especially with a General Election d-day looming ever closer.
The three-day strike this weekend is set to be followed by another four-day walkout from the 27th March. British Airways claim that 65% of passengers will still reach their destinations this weekend, but I think that is more of a hopeful, rather than a positive statement. A total of 1,100 BA flights are expected to be cancelled during these strikes, with Heathrow and Gatwick airports obviously being the most affected airports.
The strikes are over the wages that cabin crew staff earn when employed by BA. With the economic downturn still having its effects, British Airways had planned to cut their budget by 62.5million, which included reduction in their staffing wages. Obviously, cabin crew have a right to feel annoyed, but I think they are forgetting the job they are doing, and though raising the issue or thinking of a more conventional plan with the management would have been a decent solution, striking was certainly the wrong answer.
Also, with news coming through last night that the railways possibly going on strike on a national basis, for the first time in 16 years over the Easter weekend after signal workers voted in favour of industrial action, also following employment issues, this time with cuts, the torment for people wanting to getaway could be able to get doubly worse.
It looks like it could well be a miserable Easter for travellers, unless solutions in crisis meetings are found immediately, my advice would be to stay at home and avoid the chaos.
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