The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) says it has requested “last ditch talks” with Virgin Atlantic tomorrow in a dispute over time off.
The union says the airline is denying pilots their entitlement to the minimum number of days off agreed.
It says this is 120 rostered days off a year, “the equivalent to an office worker’s weekends and bank holidays.”
BALPA general secretary Jim McAuslan said: “BALPA always does what it can to assist airlines through downturns as many airlines will testify and we did this with Virgin during these past difficult years.
“To find out now the company is breaching an agreement and denying many pilots their entitlement to the equivalent to a weekend off is a real slap in the face and one which we cannot tolerate.
“We call on the company to pick up our offer of talks and find a way through.”
A spokesperson for the union said it was not threatening strike action at this stage.
“We’ve not said that but normally all discussions with unions have a sort of hierarchy and we’re at the top now where this is the last talk.”
He said the dispute had been continuing for “a few months.”
Virgin Atlantic said: "We have not had any notification of a ballot.
“We have a routine, monthly meeting with our pilots on this coming Tuesday and we will be discussing any issues that arise, within that forum."
by Debbie Ward
