Over 14,000 cabin crew are set to be balloted to decide whether strike action is needed in light of recent cost-cutting measures announced by British Airways. Both unions and BA management have been held in talks since the announcements were made at the start of October, but so far no solutions have been resolved, resulting in this latest move by the unions to call for a strike.
British Airways plan to cut 1,700 jobs at the airline, mainly from cabin crew and administrative positions. They also plan to implement pay freezes across the board. However, the firm denies that it also plans to cut employees salaries, stating “Our current cabin crew remain the best paid in the country by some way. In fact some 75% of crew will receive a pay scale increase worth between 2% and 7% this year and again next year.”
As a company, British Airways are set to make a loss for the second year in a row, as the effects of the recession bit deep. Fuel prices are also a big factor, along with falling passenger numbers as a whole.
Chief Executive, Willie Walsh, tried to hold talks with union leaders last week, but no agreement could be reached. All in all, 3,700 job cuts are set to be made over the course of the next year. It remains to be seen what the result of the ballot will be, but time is running out for a peaceful solution…
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Tags: british airways, cabin crew, strike, union