Unite and British Airways reach agreement on cabin crew
12 May 2011
Unite the union and British Airways have reached an agreement to
resolve the long-running cabin crew dispute at the airline, the
union announced today (Thursday).
The agreement is to be put to a ballot of Unite cabin crew
members over the next month, with a union recommendation for
acceptance. In the meantime, the union has decided not to
call any industrial action at the airline based on its present
ballot mandate.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, who led negotiations for
the union, said today: “We always said that this dispute could only
be settled by negotiation, not by confrontation or
litigation. And so it has proved.
“We are delighted to have reached an agreement which I believe
recognises the rights and dignity of cabin crew as well as the
commercial requirements of the company. This agreement will
allow us to go forward in partnership together to strengthen this
great British company - good news for BA, its employees and its
customers alike.
“I am particularly pleased that staff travel concessions will be
restored in full with the signing of the agreement and the
implementation of the new structure for working together that we
have negotiated. A customer-oriented business can only
succeed with all its employees valued and respected.
“And above all I would like to pay tribute to Unite’s BA cabin
crew members. Their resilience, discipline and determination
to be treated properly has been an inspiration to all who have
worked alongside them in this dispute and has been a model of
twenty-first century trade unionism. They deserve this
agreement and the prosperous future at British Airways I hope it
secures.”
