BA cabin crew strike starts after talks fail
20.03.10
A three-day strike by British Airways' cabin crew began today after last ditch talks failed to resolve the dispute. The walkout over pay and jobs began at midnight, and will disrupt travel for thousands of passengers over the next three days, after talks between the Unite union and management collapsed. A further four-day strike is planned for next weekend, with more strikes after the Easter peak unless the dispute is resolved.
BA plans to fly over 60 percent of passengers booked on its flights this weekend - around 49,000 people a day - and said all flights on a revised schedule had taken off as planned. It added that crew had reported for work as normal at Gatwick and London City airports, with approximately 50 percent of flights operating at Heathrow.
An airline spokesman said: ‘Our operations at both Heathrow and Gatwick are continuing to go well. London City is operating as normal. ‘We aim to fly as many customers as we can this weekend in the biggest contingency operation we have ever organized.’
BA said it was now intending to fly an additional 17 flights than originally planned, however Unite warned the disruption would get worse over the next few days. The union said the strike had been backed by 80 percent of cabin crew and said BA had only been able to fly a third of its scheduled flights.
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