June 7, 2010
British Airways cabin crew are undertaking their 20th day of strike action, with no sign of a breakthrough in their bitter dispute with the airline.
Members of Unite will remain on strike until Wednesday, but the union is threatening to hold a fresh ballot if the deadlocked row is not resolved soon, which could disrupt flights in the busy summer months.
British Airways said more crew than expected had turned up for work since the start of the latest five-day walkout on Saturday at Heathrow Airport, meaning it could operate additional flights.
Strike pay has been increased from £30 a day to £45 for the current strike period, and Unite is considering offering interest-free loans of £1,000 for hardship cases.
The cost of the industrial action to BA will be well over £150 million by the time the current strikes end on Wednesday. The impact of the dispute was revealed last week when the airline announced a 14.2% dip in passenger numbers last month.
A British Airways spokesman said: “Our global operations went very well last week and we have got off to another good start at the beginning of this strike period.
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“The numbers of crew reporting for work at Heathrow has been higher than we expected and as a result we have been able to operate additional flights to Los Angeles, Washington, Mexico City and Phoenix. These flights are in addition to the larger schedule previously announced at Heathrow for this period of strike action.
“We will continue to operate 100% of our schedule at Gatwick and London City airports and our cabin crew at Gatwick continue to ignore Unite’s strike calls and work as normal.”
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