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BA reopens bookings
British Airways has resumed taking bookings for the coming Bank Holiday weekend after it reached an agreement with workers’ unions over the weekend.
The two unions representing over 8,000 baggage handlers and check-in staff have called off proposed strike action that would have caused chaos on one of the year’s busiest weekends.
BA and the unions agreed a back-dated 8.5% pay increase over three years and £1,000 payable in a lump sum between now and September 2006. They also agreed a more robust absence policy in a bid to reduce average absenteeism from 17 days per employee per year to ten days. Persistent offenders, whose absence is not linked to genuine illness, will now be subject to disciplinary action.
BA director of customer service and operations, Mike Street said BA could afford the pay increase if it could curb absenteeism.
Meanwhile, a Eurostar strike planned by the union RMT for Saturday 28 August looks set to go ahead. However, the train operator says it will not affect services and will have no impact on passengers. In fact, it is running eight additional services over the weekend to cope with extra demand.
According to Eurostar, only a handful of customer service staff are involved. Director of communications Paul Charles said: “Travellers are fed up with the RMT’s attempts to disrupt their holiday plans.”
Report by Ginny McGrath
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