British holidaymakers could face a summer of travel chaos after British Airways cabin crew union Unite wrote to members suggesting a strike ballot that could mean walkouts from August 3.
The airline and the union have repeatedly failed to patch up their differences over travel perks taken away from strikers earlier in the year.
Even conciliation service ACAS admitted that it could not broker a deal between the two on Wednesday.
Now joint secretaries Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson have communicated to their 12,000 members that a ballot is in the offing for summer-long industrial action.
Although previous ballots have garnered strong support, there were reports at the end of the last five-day strike at the start of June that hard-up crew were starting to feel the pinch and support for the action was waning.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh has pledged to remain firm during any further walk-outs and continue with his strategy of using other BA staff to fill holes in cabin rostas.
by Dinah Hatch
