British Airways Meets With Mediators, Union, Goes to Court to Halt Strike
British Airways employees stand outside Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Linzie Janis reports from London's Heathrow Airport on disruptions at U.K. airports due to the return of ash from a volcano in Iceland. Janis also discusses meetings set for today between British Airways Plc and the Unite union representing its cabin crew to try to avert a strike scheduled to begin tomorrow. She speaks with Bloomberg's Andrea Catherwood.(Source: Bloomberg)
A British Airways aircraft takes off over Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
British Airways Plc is meeting with mediators today in an effort to avert a strike by 12,000 cabin crew while challenging the walkout in court. The U.K.’s new transport minister has also held talks with the carrier.
Discussions with the Unite union starting at 4 p.m. will be overseen by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, the U.K. state mediator. British Airways is separately asking the High Court in London to block the action, alleging the union didn’t properly tell members about the result of a strike vote.
British Airways flight attendants plan to strike for five days beginning at midnight in the first of four walkouts totaling 20 days. U.K. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond this morning spoke with BA Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh as Prime Minister David Cameron seeks to resolve the dispute. He’ll also meet today with Unite Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley.
“It does need to be solved,” said John Strickland, an aviation analyst at JLS Consulting Ltd. in London. “Both sides are going at it in a very aggressive way. It’s not doing the company any good in the long term.”
Government-funded ACAS was last involved in the dispute in July, at the request of British Airways. Before today, the most recent negotiations have been brokered by the Trades Union Congress, the U.K.’s umbrella group for labor organizations.
Tomorrow’s strike over staffing levels and pay would follow seven days of stoppages in March that cost British Airways as much as 45 million pounds ($65 million). The London-based carrier says it’s likely to post a 600 million-pound pretax loss for the 12 months ended March 31 when it posts results May 21.
Government Stance
“I want to persuade the parties to get back to talking, and to keep on talking for as long as it takes to resolve this,” Hammond, appointed to head transport policy last week, said in any interview before meeting with Walsh. “A strike is not going to resolve this kind of dispute.”
Cabin crew rejected Walsh’s most recent offer after Unite said the CEO must reinstate travel benefits stripped from workers who took part in the March strike and re-employ anyone suspended or fired during that dispute.
In seeking the injunction, British Airways says Unite didn’t comply with U.K. labor law when disseminating the results of its most recent ballot.
John Hendy, Unite’s lawyer, said at a hearing today that the carrier was relying on a rule designed to protect workers, not companies, and that not one union member had complained about the result of the vote, which was held in February.
“As far as we are concerned, every single member does have the information,” Hendy told the court. “There is no evidence to the contrary.”
Woodley said yesterday that Walsh was attacking union members and that Unite wanted to settle the dispute.
‘Humiliated’
“We’re up for talks and we’re up for a settlement but, we’re not up for being humiliated and the victimization of our workers,” he said.
British Airways says it has made a “very fair” offer and is prepared to work with the union to resolve the dispute.
Negotiations over a new contract for cabin crew started 15 months ago. The dispute flared up in November when Walsh cut cabin-crew staffing levels without union approval after the recession hurt demand for travel.
British Airways also had to contend with the closure of its London Heathrow hub between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. today as ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano swept back across Europe. Airports in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland remain shut.
Airlines have been hurt by repeated closures of European airspace since the eruption began on April 14. Traffic at British Airways fell 22 percent last month following an initial six-day shutdown and dust disruption will cost about 100 million pounds, Chief Financial Officer Keith Williams said April 29
To contact the reporters on this story: Steve Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net; James Lumley in London at jlumley1@bloomberg.net
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