The bitter dispute between the Unite Union and British Airways has rumbled on even further, as BA cabin crew are about to start the second day of a five-day strike. The staff walked out at midnight last night, after constant negotiations between the two parties failed to reach any kind of settlement.
With more strikes on the way next week, travel plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers are set to be ruined again, with the half-term school holidays on the way, students breaking up for University hoping for a cheap break, and passionate England fans, hoping to get to South Africa in time for the World Cup finals. With England’s first match against the USA on 12th June, many fans face heartbreak of being stuck inside a stuffy airport terminal, rather than rooting on their heroes in Rustenberg.
On Monday, BA said it was operating 60% of its long-haul flights out of Heathrow and 50% of short-haul. They also claimed that Gatwick airport was unaffected by the strikes, and many cabin crew were not supporting the strike and still working, as some need the income to keep family/independent support going. The latest dispute is over pay demands and terms & conditions within of the agreement. British Airways has also accused Unite of failing to take up offers of further late-night negotiations and it was disappointed that the union had restored to “negotiation through the media.”
The boss of BA, Willie Walsh is coming under intense pressure to relinquish his role as head of the company. It seems that Unite are firmly putting the blame firmly on his doors, rather than on British Airways the company. Despite recording record losses last Friday, Walsh told ITN that he was determined to fight on and not give in to Unite’s latest demands, as well as putting pressure on the government to give out compensation for last month’s chaotic airline disruption, due to the volcanic ash in Iceland.
The last stoppages, which took place just on the dawn of the Easter holidays and cabin crew who went on strike back then were not paid. Unite’s problem is not with this formality, but with the travel concessions towards staff who took part. They are demanding for these concessions to be restored, otherwise all of the latest strikes will take place. Latest talks were brought to a standstill on Saturday evening, when union protestors stormed into the venue where negotiations were being held. Allegedly, they were given the venue’s description by a Union leader via his updates on the social networking site, Twitter.
Last week, British Airways was granted an injunction to prevent the strikes in the High Court, as they ruled that the Unite union had not reported the results of its strike ballot correctly to its members. Three days later, an appeal by the union overturned the decision. Along with this strike, two further five-day walkouts are scheduled to begin on May 30th and June 5th.
The dispute, which has dragged on for months between BA and Unite has involved clashes on significant job cuts, working conditions and pay decreases. Tony Woodley and Willie Walsh are both as bad as one another and one wonders to think when this dispute will actually come to an end. To be honest, it has brought British Airways reputation to its knees and if someone doesn’t give in and budge soon, it won’t be long before ‘The World’s Favourite Airline,’ may end up facing total extinction.
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