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BA strikes: Judges confer over Unite appeal

Judges will not make a decision until tomorrow (Thursday May 20) on whether to allow British Airways cabin crew to go ahead with planned strike action.

The Unite union, which represents 90% of BA cabin crew,  lodged an appeal after the high court ruled on Monday that the strikes would be unlawful.

Judges said the union had failed to “send everyone eligible to vote (on industrial action) details of the exact breakdown of the ballot result”.

The country’s most senior judge, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, chaired a three-member panel to decide whether to overturn the judgment and let the strike carry on as planned.

After three and a half hours of arguments from counsel for Unite and BA , the judges reserved their decision until 9.30am on Thursday.

Members of Unite were due to walk out from May 18-22 inclusive, then from May 24-28, May 30-June 3 and June 5-9, the last strike ending just days before the start of the football World Cup in South Africa.

Despite the High Court decision, there was disruption to BA services as the carrier had already had to start putting a contingency plan in place.

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