Lower-earning cabin crew at British Airways are to vote this week on whether to take industrial action over what the Unite union calls ‘poverty pay’ levels.
Over 2,000 of the airline’s mixed fleet employees working out of Heathrow will be balloted from Wednesday, after rejecting a 2% pay offer.
If they vote for industrial action, it could mean a strike over the busy Christmas period.
BA disputes Unite’s claim that the average pay including allowances is £16,000 a year.
The airline says crew can make at least £21,000 a year with bonuses, from a basic salary of £12,000.
The mixed fleet was set up 2010, offering different pay and conditions to those enjoyed by existing crew.
The union claims the low pay has seen crew sleeping in their cars between shifts and working in different jobs on their days off to make ends meet. A union survey found two in three crew had gone to work while unfit to fly because they could not afford to be off sick.
Unite’s regional officer Matt Smith said: "British Airways, once the ‘world’s favourite airline’, is fast becoming the ‘world’s least liked’, paying poverty wages."
BA said: "Our pay proposal for our mixed fleet cabin crew is fair, reasonable and consistent with that already accepted by other British Airways colleagues.
"It reflects typical pay awards given by other companies in the UK and will ensure their reward levels remain in line with cabin crew at our airline competitors.
"We remain open and flexible to discuss this further with our colleagues and the union."
