Bmibaby pilots vote to strike

Saturday, 17 Aug, 2006 0

Bmi is preparing itself for disruption to services after bmibaby pilots voted in favour of strike action.

Two other ballots, of Bmi’s long-haul and short-haul pilots, are due to take place today and the results will be revealed on August 24.

A spokesman for the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) said: “We haven’t decided on when to strike and it may well be that we wait for the result of the other two ballots.

“However, to help the travelling public, we can guarantee we will be not taking strike action over the bank holiday.”

Pilots are walking out in opposition to a 2.4% pay rise.

“It’s not really the money. It’s a general feeling among the pilots that they are not being treated with any respect. There was no negotiation and you can’t treat people like that in this day and age,” said the BALPA spokesman.

Although 73% of Balpa members voted in favour of a strike, this only consitutes 47% of all Bmibaby’s pilots.

Bmibaby said BALPA has requested a meeting with the airline to attempt to find a way through the dispute.

“We are reflecting on that proposal,” it said in a statement.

“Bmibaby’s offer of negotiations for a multi-year pay deal for 2007 onwards remains on the table and we remain hopeful that any industrial action can be avoided.”

A Bmi spokesman said its pilots were earning on average £90,000 a year and first officers £50,000, while the average salary of all Bmi staff is £16,000.

The airline advised customers not to make any changes to their travel plans and stressed that it has contingency plans in place to deal with any operational disruption.

By Bev Fearis

Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.

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