Lord Adonis – the UK’s Transport Secretary – has condemned the planned BA Cabin Crew strike and appealed to the UNITE union to return to the negotiating table to avert it.
Lord Adonis said on Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show that:
“The impact this will have will not only be deeply damaging on passengers, it will … threaten the very existence of British Airways. The stakes are incredibly high in this strike. I absolutely deplore the strike, it is not only the damage it is going to do passengers and the inconvenience it’s going to cause – which is quite disproportionate to the issues at stake – but also the threat it poses to the future of one of our great companies in this country.
It’s totally unjustified, the strike, on the merits of the issues at stake. I do call on the union to engage constructively with the company at this late stage. This is an industrial dispute and it needs to be sorted out by proper negotiations. We have still got a short window of time before British Airways has to announce what is going to happen to all the flights that would have to be cancelled from next Saturday if the strike goes ahead. In this short window I implore the union to get together with the management to see whether, at this late stage, a solution can be found.”
The first set of two strikes begins Saturday, March 20th. BA have a plan and will continue to fly many of their longhual flights and rebook passengers on others with minimal flight cancellations. Read more details of their plan here.
I find it sort of ironic that Labour is so heavily criticizing UNITE since UNITE is actually keeping the Labour party afloat as it enters the upcoming General Election.
Stay Tuned to Anglotopia for the latest British Airways strike news.
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Anglotopia was founded by Jonathan and Jackie Thomas for people who love Britain - whether it's British TV, Culture, History or Travel - we cover it all. Anglotopia was started to get us back to the UK for a trip and it did that in 2009. Now, the goal is for Anglotopia to make our dream of living in the UK a reality.
It seems to me – and the British people – that Unite are hell~bent on destroying British Airways . SHAME on you Unite ~ when BA is crippled , I hope you can find employment for the thousands of ex-BA staff.