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[size=75:3c4bz6ak]novinite December 14, 2009

British Airways Cabin Crew Set to Strike over Christmas

British Airways cabin crew have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike in a dispute over job cuts and changes to staff contracts.

The strikes are set to begin on 22 December and run until 2 January. They are expected to cause significant disruption over the Christmas period.

Cabin crew voted by nine to one in favour of the strike action, the BBC reported.

The strike could cause problems for many UK and Bulgarian tourists who use the airline to fly between the two countries over the festive period.

It follows a long dispute between the unions and BA, which is intent on cutting costs to ensure its survival.

"
It goes without saying that we have taken this decision to disrupt passengers and customers over the Christmas period with a heavy heart,"
said Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of the Unite union.

The British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association, a section of Unite, also said it was unhappy about taking strike action.

"
We are deeply saddened to have reached the point where we must take industrial action to get our voices heard, but feel that we have been left with no other choice,"
it said.



This could be bad news for some I was watching the news earlier and they said that those who have booked are unlikely to get any compensation if the flight is canceled because of the strike

Hum!!! Just been listening to the news about this - Getting rather nasty or what

Oddy

[size=75:35ozuv73]Times online 13 March 2010

Crew to strike for seven days as British Airways withdraws peace offer

The travel plans of half a million British Airways passengers were thrown into disarray when the union representing its cabin crew called seven days of strikes and the airline withdrew a last-minute deal aimed at averting a stoppage.

Negotiations broke down amid bitter recriminations on both sides and BA faces its longest cabin crew strike in the run-up to Easter.

The Unite union called a three-day stoppage from next Saturday and a further four-day strike from March 27. It said that it would not strike during the Easter school holidays in the first two weeks of April, but warned that if the dispute over changes to working practices was not settled by April 14 further stoppages would be called.

Barely an hour after Unite announced its strike dates, the BA chief executive, Willie Walsh, withdrew a formal peace offer, catching the union off guard and extinguishing hope of a negotiated settlement.
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In a copy of the deal leaked by the union, BA offered to replace one in ten of the cabin crew who left in November as part of a £60 million cost-cutting drive and pledged a two-year pay rise. Some overseas allowances would be cut and the airline demanded the right to separate negotiations with new recruits.

Unite had planned to ask its 12,000 cabin crew members whether they wanted to accept the deal or go on strike. “This beggars belief, putting it beyond doubt that confrontation has been management’s intention throughout and that BA has never had any intention of seeking agreement,” Len McCluskey, Unite’s assistant general secretary, said.

“The company is now stopping its own employees from having a voice on an offer that could possibly have ended the dispute.”

BA, which carries more than 80,000 passengers on a typical March day, acknowledged that it faced “massive disruption” and the loss of tens of millions of pounds. Mr Walsh said that his aim was now to work on the airline’s contingency plan — to keep as many flights as possible running throughout the stoppage.

“This has caused great uncertainty for our customers and my focus will be on doing whatever we can to keep BA flying. We have robust contingency plans in place,” Mr Walsh said.

BA has trained 1,000 pilots and ground crew volunteers to fill in for striking cabin crew. It has chartered 23 aircraft and crew to keep some long-haul flights operating out of Heathrow.

It is confident that none of its long-haul services out of Gatwick will be affected and half of its short-haul flights from the airport will continue to fly. The airline’s 50 daily flights from London City airport should be unaffected by the stoppage.

Rumours that Charlie Whelan, Unite’s political director and an adviser to the Prime Minister, was orchestrating the process behind closed doors, were denied.

Downing Street urged both sides to step back from the brink.

One stewardess said: “I feel relieved that we have now made a decision because the public deserve to know whether or not they can book tickets. It is a pretty sad day, though.”

The airline said that any passenger booked to travel between March 19 and March 31 could cancel, get a refund or book for another date.

Oh heck, boys Flights booked for first week in April to 27th just our luck eh!!!


Oddy

quote.. BA, which carries more than 80,000 passengers on a typical March day, acknowledged that it faced “massive disruption” and the loss of tens of millions of pounds.
Obviously they think they can save hundreds of millions, and don't care about the customers opinion!

I think the Unions are mad to follow this path.

BA is way behind the times with pricing etc and need to modernise drastically if they are compete with the cheap airlines.

I do feel sorry for the staff, who are caught between a rock and a hard place, but striking will only alienate them from their paying public and make the companies demise all the quicker.

Judybaby wrote:

I think the Unions are mad to follow this path.

BA is way behind the times with pricing etc and need to modernise drastically if they are compete with the cheap airlines.

I do feel sorry for the staff, who are caught between a rock and a hard place, but striking will only alienate them from their paying public and make the companies demise all the quicker.

This is what all the unions have done in the past "
Destroyed British industry"

[size=75:f3ooza47]novinite 17 March 2010

British Airways Takes off to Bulgaria's Varna

UK airlines British Airways will renew its flights to and from Bulgaria's sea capital Varna as of April 1, representatives of the company announced on Wednesday.

The price of the one-way ticket on a flight from Varna to the airport Gatwick has been set at EUR 35 and EUR 70 for a return ticket, airport fees excluded.

The company said it is testing special ticket prices for flights from Sofia and Varna to the United States and Canada, varying from EUR 281 to 291.

The tickets for Varna – London destination will be on sale from March 28, but only those passengers who travel from April 1 to May 31 can avail themselves of the cheaper prices.

British Airways have also announced a new price of EUR 99, airport fees included, for a one-way ticket from the Bulgarian capital Sofia to Gatwick. There is only one condition - passengers will have to book their flight online.

Ashley

What excellent news for the summer season that is if they are not on strike

willowsend wrote:

Ashley

What excellent news for the summer season that is if they are not on strike

That's if they still exist ?????

This is great lets hope it all goes well for all concerned

Brilliant news hope we can all benefit from this so long as the hidden extras don't break the bank

[size=75:2877x6l4]BBC news 19 March 2010

BA cabin crew strike to go ahead as talks collapse

A strike by British Airways cabin crew will go ahead after talks between the airline and the Unite union collapsed.

The three-day walkout begins at midnight, with a further four days of action set to commence on 27 March.

BA chief Willie Walsh said the strike was "
deeply regrettable"
. The airline has said 65% of passengers will reach their destination during the action.

Unite's joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, said that BA "
ultimately wants to go to war with this union"
.

Separately, railway signal workers have voted in favour of strikes in a row over jobs and safety.

'Serve passengers'

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "
The Prime Minister believes that this strike is in no-one's interest and will cause unacceptable inconvenience to passengers.

"
He urges the strike be called off immediately. He also urges BA's management and workforce to get together without delay to resolve what is a dispute about jobs and wages."


A total of 1,100 BA flights out of the 1,950 scheduled to operate during the first three-day strike will be cancelled.

Unite's Tony Woodley: "
I'm extremely disappointed for our members"


At Gatwick, all long-haul flights and more than half of short-haul flights are expected to operate as normal.

At Heathrow, more than 60% of long-haul flights will operate, though only 30% of short-haul flights are expected to do so, with the help of aircraft leased from eight rival airlines.

"
Tens of thousands of BA people stand ready to serve our passengers and BA will be flying and will continue to fly through these periods of industrial action,"
Mr Walsh said.

He added he remained available for talks on reaching a "
sensible"
agreement, but said that loss-making BA must cut costs.

An offer which the carrier had put to the union, but which had not been accepted, would be "
formally withdrawn once industrial action commences"
, Mr Walsh said.

Earlier, BA said that any staff who took part in strike action would lose perks, including heavily discounted travel fares.

Pay demand

The airline and the union held talks late into the night on Thursday and resumed discussions on Friday.

Mr Woodley had called on BA to put an earlier deal to end the strikes "
back on the table"
- a move he said would allow him to call off the strike while union members considered it.

That settlement offer had included commitments on working hours and annual pay rises in exchange for the cabin crew workers agreeing to BA's planned £62.5m of cost cuts.

But after announcing that the strike would go ahead, Mr Woodley said that the airline "
did not want to negotiate"
.

"
I am extremely disappointed for the travelling public and our members, but this union will now support our members, while remaining open for talks with the company,"
he said.

"
It is an absolute disgrace and an insult to our people that he (Mr Walsh) tabled a deal that reduced the amount of pay on offer.

"
It is ridiculous to expect anyone to go to their membership with a worse offer."


Mr Walsh said suggestions that he wanted to break the union were "
absolute nonsense"
.

"
We have spent 13 months in negotiations. BA has been at the table, ready, willing and able to negotiate. If people want a scapegoat, they will have to look somewhere else."

I think if the unions are not carefull there won't be a BA just as all the other big names we had in the uk ? where are they now ? and that's all thank's to the unions who destroy British industry, sorry I know I know there will be those who won't like what I've said here but it's how I see it

[size=75:1isw4q3l]Sofia echo 21 March 2010

British Airways crew strike will cost airline millions

A three-day strike by over 11,000 British Airways cabin crew began Saturday in the aftermath of failed talks between the company's management and the union. Many flights are being canceled and it will cost the airline millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Relations are sour at British Airways after management and the main union representing cabin crew members failed to agree on a new labor deal. The airline is suffering from heavy losses and is looking to trim back operating costs. The union says it has gone more than halfway to bring about change and modernize practices at the airline.

In an unusual move Saturday, British Airways chief executive officer, Willie Walsh released an apology to passengers on the internet. "
I am deeply sorry. It is a terrible day today for British Airways. I am really disappointed that we have not been able to reach agreement,"
he said.

But the sincerity of that apology is being questioned by members of the Unite union. Their chief, Tony Woodley says BA management is offering them a deal that frankly everybody would refuse. "
What British Airways has done is to table an offer that is worse than the offer that they unilaterally agreed with us last week. That makes it absolutely impossible for us to be able to go back to our members and re-ballot them under these circumstances. I am extremely disappointed,"
he said.

Among the ranks on the picket line near Heathrow, there is talk of management adopting a union-busting posture. Woodley says BA wants it all their way. "
I think it is a classic case of Mr. Walsh, unfortunately being one of the hawks, was looking for a war with our members as opposed to a negotiated settlement,"
he said.

At issue, British Airways is looking for a pay freeze in 2010, a switch to part-time work for three-thousand staff and a reduction in cabin crew sizes from 15 to 14 on long-haul flights.

Meanwhile, striking cabin crew members near Heathrow are standing by their position despite British Airways training some replacements from within BA staff to temporarily take over some of their duties. "
We are just supporting each other, basically. The atmosphere is very tense at the moment and we just want to support each other during this time.//Nobody wants a strike at the end of the day, it is not good for anybody but we voted 'yes.' We have got to stand by our vote and we have got to support our union,"
said one striker.

More than 1,000 flights have been cancelled by the airline.

Other aviation industry unions around the world including those in the U.S., Australia, Germany and Spain are watching developments and are looking at options to aid their colleagues in Britain.

Very sad situation this is but the unions will destroy all thast is in their path as history shows