LONDON – Reports from the UK indicate that the strike threat by British Airways cabin staff over the Christmas and New Year period could be averted at the last minute.
The BBC reported that talks between management and the union representing BA cabin crew are to continue.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh attended talks yesterday with Unite union but it is not known what progress was made.
Meanwhile, a High Court judgment on the legality of the planned strike is also expected.
Cabin crew are due to walk out for 12 days from December 22 in protest at job losses and a pay freeze.
Before the talks started on Wednesday, Unite’s joint leader Derek Simpson told GMTV that the 12-day duration of the planned strike over redundancies and a pay freeze was “probably over the top”.
He added that the choice of duration had been the decision of Unite’s negotiating team, and that was what they considered necessary to “bring sense” to BA.
The union said it was glad that the dispute had moved from “confrontation to negotiation”.
However Tony Woodley, Unite’s other joint-general secretary, refused to call off the strikes while negotiations were being held.
“I will be repeating the offer I made to Willie Walsh on Friday,” he told the BBC.
“Suspend the imposition of the changes of terms and conditions to our members and let’s not have a strike at all.”
