Statement from WW, correcting a few of BASSA and Unite's lies:
Unite's decision to ruin Christmas for a million of our customers was one of the most shocking announcements I have heard in my 30 years in the aviation industry.
Our call centres have been besieged by people in tears, sick with worry that long-established plans for family reunions are about to disintegrate. Whatever Unite may feel about its case, inflicting such distress on so many individuals of all ages at this emotional time of year is surely an unacceptable way of pursuing it.
We are absolutely determined to protect our customers as much as we possibly can, which is why we have begun legal action to seek an injunction that would prevent this appalling strike going ahead.
As a back-up to the legal action, we are also working hard to establish which cabin crew might wish to work normally during the strike period.
British Airways cabin crew are highly skilled and extremely professional. They are in the front line of customer service and a fantastic asset to the company. But I believe they have been gravely misled by their union in the months leading up to Monday's strike decision.
For example, Unite has claimed that we were "trying to intimidate workers into accepting poorer contracts". The fact is that cabin crew keep their current pay and conditions, and 75% of them will receive pay rises of between 2% and 7% this year, and next.
Given this company's well-advertised financial plight and a protracted recession that has squeezed living standards in every economic sector, we think that this deal is very fair and reasonable. We have also accepted requests for part-time working wherever we could.
And don't forget that BA cabin crew are already the best rewarded in the UK industry. Cabin service directors in our Heathrow long-haul fleet earn £56,000 a year on average, and main crew members average nearly £35,000. Civil Aviation Authority figures comparing cabin crew costs for 10 UK airlines show that BA crew are easily the most expensive, costing twice as much as their Virgin Atlantic counterparts.
Similarly, Unite has claimed that it offered us £170m worth of savings. The true value of that offer was a fraction of that amount, temporary – and plainly inadequate when other colleagues within BA were making much more meaningful contributions to our imperative need to reduce costs.
And I do not believe that more than a handful of cabin crew thought they would be supporting a 12-day strike covering Christmas and New Year when they decided which way to vote in the ballot. Unite kept extremely quiet about that.
There is no need for this strike. I am available to talk with Unite at any time about all the issues that stand between us, without pre-conditions. Let's end this Christmas nightmare and work together to secure British Airways' recovery.