BA Plans to Operate about Half of its Heathrow Flights
British Airways and Unite have raised the stakes so high that neither side will emerge unscathed from this fiasco. This is the result of the list of the judge’s ruling which has overturned the earlier High Court ban on the BA strike.
British Airways has stated that they are very disappointed that Unite’s appeal has been upheld, reintroducing the threat of strike action. Employees of the Unite have announced plans for its 90 percent of BA’s flight attendants to stage a strike for up to five days beginning possibly on Monday, May 24. This strike could affect up to 1.8 million passengers over that time period.
The BA cabin crew hopes to operate four five-day walkouts with a 24 hour separation time between the walkouts. The days of the walkouts are 18 May, 24 May, 30 May and 5 June.
This is all at Heathrow. Gatwick does plan to have its same scheduled hours as arranged during this time period. Supposedly, Gatwick is not involved in the walkouts. However, the BA does have contingency plans which involve using Gatwick if in case the walkout happens at Heathrow. The officials of British Airways have already managed to arrange from more than fifty other carriers to allow BA passengers to rebook on the other airlines if their BA flights are affected by the strike.
British Airways has maintained its open door policy to Unite to cancel its strike operation and the job security of the Unite members. Unite, on the other hand, has stated that its two major joint general secretaries, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, have little more to do than take action for now. Their statement reveals that the seven days notice period provides BA management team time to reopen meaningful negotiations with Unite.
British Airways does not think that the best way to stop a walkout is through the courts. Their belief is that litigation is less effective than genuine negotiation.