December 17, 2009
Travellers faced fresh threats of transport chaos last night as Heathrow baggage handlers and Eurostar train drivers said they were ready to join British Airways cabin crew and strike in the lead-up to Christmas.
British drivers at Eurostar said they would go on strike tomorrow and Saturday after talks with management over pay broke down. Aslef, one of the unions involved, said it expected “some inconvenience” for passengers, though the operator said it expected to run a full service using French and Belgian drivers.
Separately, the Unite union representing British Airways cabin crew announced 500 baggage handlers and check-in staff it covered at Heathrow and Aberdeen airports also planned to strike over pay from next Tuesday, the same day thousands of BA cabin crew have said they will start their 12-day action.
The new strike threat, which Unite denied had been timed to raise pressure on British Airways, could affect passengers on airlines including Emirates, Thai Airways and Air France-KLM.
The spread of industrial action threats is bound to prompt government fears of a surge in unrest ahead of an election. In 1979, the inability of the then Labour government to contain widespread strikes in the so-called winter of discontent helped Margaret Thatcher to a Conservative victory.
Gordon Brown said yesterday he was “very worried” about the dispute at BA and urged the two sides to start talks. Within hours, BA said Willie Walsh, its chief executive, would hold talks with Unite leaders. BA said the discussions, which lasted for about four hours, would continue today.
Derek Simpson, one of Unite’s leaders, had told GMTV that the 12-day strike threat was “probably over the top”.
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But he said that the union had been forced to take the stance it had because of Mr Walsh’s intransigence.
BA’s lawyers will be back to court this morning after arguing yesterday for an injunction to halt the strike, claiming the strike ballot Unite used was flawed because it had been sent to people who no longer worked at the airline. A decision is due today.
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