Members of the Unite trade union have voted in favour of further strike action today as the dispute over travel perks and disciplinary procedures following previous strikes rumbled on.
Although the original issues that saw cabin crew walk out for 22 days last year have been resolved the airline and the union continue to disagree over BA’s response to the walk-outs.
Unite reported this afternoon that 78.5% of members who voted were in favour of industrial action.
The turnout was also quite high with just over 7,300 of the 10,000 members who were sent ballot papers returning them with a valid vote.
Len McCluskey, the Unite leader, said BA had to think again if it thought it had broken the spirit of its members.
Unite now has to give BA seven days notice of any strike and the current ballot vote is valid for 28 days. If no strike is held within that time the union will have to ballot again.
BA has already said it will be better prepared if there is further strikes this year, and will run a full programme from Gatwick and London City as well as a full long-haul programme from Heathrow.
During previous strikes Gatwick and London City were unaffected but long-haul services from Heathrow were disrupted although short-haul bore the brunt of the cancellations.
This is likely to be the case again during further action with BA reducing frequency on short-haul routes it flies multiple times daily.
BA boss Willie Walsh said this week he was confident of keeping 100% long-haul and 100% of short-haul aircraft flying, although this is not the same thing as saying all departures will be flown.
Walsh said: “We’re confident that with the contingency plan that we’ve developed, which includes training further people to serve as cabin crew, we will be able to continue flying. What we’re seeing is that the vast majority of our crew wants it over with.”
Although there has been speculation that Unite members will walk out over Easter, new leader McCluskey has pledged to avoid the Easter weekend and the end of April when the Royal wedding is due to take place.
Asked whether Unite would target Easter, McCluskey said: “We would not pick Easter at all. We’ll wait for the outcome of the ballot. We are still hoping BA management will try to reach a settlement. If not, we’ll consider what action we can take.”