Trade union Unite has called off the immediate threat of strikes by British Airways cabin crew, but the union will ballot again and general secretary Len McCluskey warned: “Customer uncertainty and confusion will continue.”
The Unite leader described BA management as “living in a fool’s paradise” if they believed legal action would settle the dispute with staff.
Unite confirmed it would withdraw the threat of industrial action based on a ballot in January that showed 78% support for fresh strikes, after BA complained to election overseer Electoral Reform Services (ERS) – a section of the Electoral Reform Society.
That led the ERS to qualify its report on the ballot. As a result, McCluskey said, Unite could not call a strike as this would “expose our members to sanctions by a bullying employer”.
A strike without a legal ballot would remove any legal protection from those taking part and leave them open to summary dismissal.
However, the BA move represents a high-risk strategy, as in order to pursue it the airline would have to be prepared to sack almost its entire Heathrow-based cabin crew.
The union will notify BA of a fresh ballot “within 10 days or so”. That would push any renewed action into late March or early April and put the Easter holiday at risk of disruption – although BA insists flights from Gatwick and London City would be unaffected and it would aim to run a full long-haul operation from Heathrow during a further strike.
In a statement, BA said: “Unite has failed to conduct the [ballot] process properly and has announced it cannot call action on the basis of this. All of our flights continue to operate as normal.”
The dispute appears to have reached a new level of bitterness, with McCluskey questioning why BA had “placed its chief legal officer in charge of employee relations”.
The Unite leader said the union had not heard from the airline since completion of the most-recent ballot, despite conciliation service Acas attempting to arrange a meeting.
McCluskey said: “There has not been the slightest flicker of interest from BA in holding talks. However, if BA management believes it can secure industrial harmony by these methods it is living in a fools’ paradise. BA cabin crew have repeatedly shown they will not be browbeaten.
“Unite is therefore immediately setting in hand preparations for a further ballot on the issues arising from management’s breach of agreements and policies of industrial intimidation. BA needs to understand that customer uncertainty and confusion will continue until it starts listening to its staff.”