BA face strikes over staff cuts
08.06.09
British Airways is bracing itself for a summer of strikes after the airline's ground staff rejected proposals by six to one to cut pay - or face compulsory redundancy, the Daily Mail reports. It quotes 'insiders at the Unite union' saying that 2,987 workers voted 'No' while only 487 backed the cost-cutting proposals being pushed by BA chief executive Willie Walsh. Its sources at Unite said: 'Even the ground staff are squaring up to Willie for a strike.'
Despite the opposition however, BA is continuing to take a hard line in the negotiations. An internal letter from Mr Walsh to his 40,000 employees, including 14,000 cabin crew, is asking for volunteers to take redundancy. In the letter, he tells staff: 'The next four weeks are vital for the future of our business. We are very clear that we are now in a fight for our very survival and time is running out. This is not opportunistic gloom to drive through a management agenda. This is not a temporary problem. This is our greatest-ever challenge. It is time for us to face up to our present and work for a different sort of future.'
Leaders from all of BA's unions will head into talks with the airline today, after Mr Walsh gave a deadline of June 30 for radical and permanent cuts on pay, conditions and the loss of up to 4,000 workers - a tenth of the workforce. BA staff have also been warned that they face the sack if they take time off work to attend mass meetings over the pay and job cuts.
As well as ground staff and cabin crew, pilots are also set to be balloted. However, they are proving 'more flexible' and are even said to be considering a pay cut. Mr Walsh said recently that unions representing cabin crew were taking a harder line. A spokesman for BA said: ' Discussions are going on with the unions in every part of the company.'
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