London:
British Airways (BA) cabin crews will strike over the busy Christmas period, throwing the plans of thousands of holiday makers into uncertainty.
The Unite union said Monday crew members plan to walk off the job on December 22 and strike for 12 days.
The union says 92.5 per cent of the workers who voted were in favour of the action. BA staff members are unhappy about layoffs and changes in work practices that they argue have been illegally imposed by the airline.
BA has announced sweeping changes as part of its bid to cut costs after suffering big losses amid lower demand for travel during the global recession. It says plans to axe thousands of jobs, freeze pay for current staff and offer lower wages for new employees are necessary for its survival.
The struggling carrier has announced sweeping changes as part of its bid to cut costs, including axing 1,700 jobs, freezing pay for current staff and offering lower wages for new employees. The airline has suffered along with the rest of the industry due to lower demand for travel during the global recession.
The prospect of a "yes" vote was likely after the failure of talks last week between British Airways PLC executives and leaders of Unite.
Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh said that the cabin crew had been misled by the union over the necessity and fairness of the airline's new pay and work proposals.
"Our cabin crew union refuses to acknowledge what is going on around it," the outspoken Walsh wrote in Monday's Daily Mail newspaper. "Like King Canute, it sits by the water's edge shouting at the waves of recession and competition to go back."
"This cannot work," he added. "And though the union may be bent on self-destruction, I will not allow British Airways to be pulled under."
The airline, which is struggling as the global downturn eats away at demand for air travel, has defended the cost-savings measures as necessary to move back to profitability. It posted a net loss of 208 million pounds ($346 million) for the six months ending in September, its first-ever loss in the period, as revenue fell by 13.7 per cent.
BA also revealed on Monday that its pension deficit has blown out further to 3.7 billion pounds, from 2.1 billion pounds in 2006, and said it would consult with employees about a recovery plan.
The union has argued that the changes, introduced in mid-November, has stopped members from doing their jobs properly and were imposed in breach of contract.
Cabin crews agreed last month to fly with reduced staffing after failing to win a court injunction banning the changes last month until a High Court decision on the dispute is due on February 1.
The strike will be the first since three days of action in 1997. Shares in BA were trading at 201.6 pence on Monday, up just 0.2 per cent.