May 19, 2010
British Airways passengers face a summer of strikes after the Unite union vowed to continue its cabin crew dispute with the airline.
The union is waiting to hear if judges will allow it to go ahead with a strike due for this week but called off at the last minute on Monday by the High Court.
Three judges in the Court of Appeal in London – including the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge – were urged yesterday to overturn a ruling by Mr Justice McCombe in the High Court that workers could not strike because Unite had failed to tell its members about 11 spoiled ballot papers.
The injunction halted a planned series of walk-outs by up to 12,000 cabin crew in a bitter row over jobs, pay and staffing levels. The union claimed it was an attack on its ‘human right to strike’.
The Court of Appeal is to give its judgment at 9.30am tomorrow when BA is expected to unveil annual losses of between £600m and £1bn. If the union wins its case, the strikes could resume immediately although its lawyers suggested they would not.
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But if Unite loses, it will ballot its members yet again, opening the way for strikes in June during the World Cup in South Africa and into the school holidays.
Unite’s joint general secretary Tony Woodley pledged: ‘The dispute will go on.’
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