TUC attempts to rescue BA cabin crew talks
24.01.10
The TUC will attempt to rescue peace talks between British Airways and the Unite union this week after discussions over staffing cuts descended into acrimony, the Observer reports. Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, is reported to be talking separately to BA and Unite representatives in a bid to establish a basis for further negotiations over reductions in cabin crew numbers on long haul flights.
The dispute broke into open conflict last week after Unite announced plans to reopen a strike ballot and BA retaliated by threatening to withdraw travel perks for flight crew if they joined a walkout. Unite has also reacted angrily to attempts to set up an alternative cabin crew body, called the Professional Cabin Crew Council, which has emailed BA staff and asked them to vote no in the new poll. The email states: ‘The word is VOTE NO in the ballot. Then Professional Cabin Crew Council can pick up the pieces, and find a better way for everyone to safeguard all our jobs.’
Steve Turner, Unite's national officer for aviation, accused BA of backing an attempt to ‘establish a breakaway union’, and called on it to agree a deal. He told the newspaper: ‘The majority of our workforce is female, middle class and from middle England. They are not militant. There is a solution to this and sooner or later BA will grasp it.’
Tensions also emerged between Unite and Balpa, the BA pilots' union, after a number of pilots applied to retrain as cabin crew to help the airline operate its fleet during a walkout. The joint general secretaries of Unite, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, have asked Mr Barber to discuss the issue with Balpa, which is not affiliated to the TUC. Balpa's general secretary, Jim McAuslan, said the union had a ‘neutral’ position on the dispute but admitted that some members would join training sessions that begin tomorrow.
The respective BA and Unite presentations at the talks, seen by the Observer, indicate that both sides are some distance from agreement, the newspaper reports. The 11-page BA presentation reveals proposals that would see new cabin crew brought in on lower pay and different conditions, working on an entirely separate fleet. As a trade-off, the airline has pledged to protect the pay and conditions of current crew.
The BA document describes the ‘New Fleet’ crew as a ‘high-performance workforce’. Unite believes the strategy will be a Trojan horse for introducing a deunionised workforce that will ultimately become the main cabin crew body – something BA denies.
The Unite proposal, entitled The Way Forward, agrees to introduce crew on new terms and conditions but stipulates they must work alongside existing crew. It also agrees to a two-year pay freeze. Unite argues that the proposals could deliver cost savings of £100m per year, but BA is seeking a total of £140m and claims that the Unite plan will deliver no more than £56m.
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