British Airways will be forced to ground all its Heathrow flights and the majority of its Gatwick fleet after cabin crew staff confirmed they will hold their first 48-hour strike on Tuesday.
Negotiations to settle the dispute, which centre around staff sickness, pay and staff issues, had appeared to be going well yesterday when the Transport and General Workers Union announced they were postponing the start of the strike, which was originally planned to last for 72 hours, by a day.
Now, following the failure to find common ground and despite 100 hours of talks the T&G has confirmed the first strike, which is backed by 96.1% of the union’s members, will go ahead as planned although T&G deputy general secretary Jack Dromey added the union remains open for talks.
He added: “This is a sad day for passengers and cabin crew alike.”
“We are dismayed and saddened that BA failed to grasp this genuine opportunity, squandering a sincere gesture of goodwill. The company has failed to hear the voice of common sense.”
The strike means no BA flights will leave Heathrow on either day while all domestic and European BA flights to and from Gatwick will also be halted.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said he was “bitterly disappointed” at the news and again called on the union to accept the airline’s offer to allow the conciliation service Acas to join the talks.
He added: “We are deeply sorry that our customers are the innocent victims of this unnecessary and unjustified strike by the T&G.
“More than 15,000 customers a day have contacted us since the union announced a series of 72-hour strikes, extremely concerned about their winter holidays and business trips. Announcing our contingency plans means we can end uncertainty for customers caught up in the first round of strikes and help them make other plans.
“If we postponed the cancellation of flights until the eve of a strike, customers would have virtually no time to make alternative arrangements.
“We remain absolutely determined to search for a negotiated settlement and our door remains open to the T&G, day or night. We regret that the T&G has not supported our initiative to seek the assistance of the Acas conciliation service.
“It is not too late for the T&G to call off this dispute and we will do all we can to reinstate some of the cancelled flights.”
For further information on how flights will be effected and what the current booking conditions are, visit BA.com.