Unite gives notice to BA of a new ballot of cabin crew members
22 February 2011
A new ballot of cabin crew at British Airways will shortly get
underway, the crew's union Unite has today (Tuesday) informed the
airline. This will be the fourth ballot of the same workforce
at the airline in a two year period.
The new ballot follows moves last month by the airline to derail
the vote conducted in December 2010 by Electoral Reform Services,
which saw 78 per cent of Unite's crew members vote in favour of
strike action by three to one.
Unite claims that systemic anti-union activity, the undermining
of negotiated agreements and the vindictive removal of staff travel
concessions by the company, is preventing headway in
negotiations. Since 2010 18 members of Unite have been sacked
and another 70 suspended, including a third of the local union
leadership, as the airline targets trade union members.
In a letter sent to all the union's members at BA, Unite general
secretary Len McCluskey writes: "If BA's management believes that
it can secure industrial harmony by these methods it is living in a
fools’ paradise. Only negotiation, not litigation or intimidation,
can start to heal the wounds caused by this dispute.
"However, given the on-going failure of British Airways
management to take its employment relations seriously and start
negotiating, we have today given the company formal notice of this
fresh ballot.
"We have made every effort in prolonged negotiations to resolve
this dispute. Throughout we have been guided by our
representatives. If we could achieve a settlement then peace would
at long last be at hand.
"BA management needs to understand that it will never break the
spirit of cabin crew, and that customer uncertainty and confusion
will continue until it starts listening to its staff."
The ballot will open on Tuesday, March 1st and close on Monday,
March 28th, 2011.
ENDS
For further information, please contact Pauline Doyle on 07976
832 861
Email to a friend
