by Kaveri Niththyananthan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)
Unite, the union representing 12,000 of British Airways' PLC (BAY.LN) cabin crew said Monday only 216 staff at the U.K. carrier had volunteered to replace the cabin crew, should they decided to go on strike.
BA is planning to retrain some staff--including pilots and ground staff--so they can fill-in as cabin crew and ensure service doesn't come to a complete halt.
But Unite warned that those 216 BA employees will be "rushed through" BA and the Civil Aviation Authority training courses that begin Monday and conclude with a course on Feb. 6, adding it will be writing to the CAA to demand that corners aren't cut.
Len McCluskey, Unite assistant general secretary, said: "With a cabin crew of 13,500 does BA seriously think this handful of inexperienced individuals will be able to operate a service? BA would be far better channeling its energies into negotiation than pursuing cynical schemes to break its own skilled and professional workforce."
The two sides have been at odds over British Airways' plans to change work practices. After nine months of talks, British Airways in November cut the number of cabin crew on long-haul flights from London's Heathrow Airport to 14 from 15.
That angered unions and they opened a second ballot Monday, which closes Feb. 22, after the first ballot that supported industrial action was quashed by the High Court. The two sides are also set to face each other in court Feb. 1, when it will be decided whether changes BA introduced are a breach of contract.
A BA spokesman said staff would be trained to a standard demanded by regulatory authorities and the CAA - through inspections - will ensure safety standards are maintained.
A spokesman for the CAA said it was monitoring procedures and would ensure safety standards are upheld.
He added BA is adopting two separate procedures: one for pilots most of whom already have a vast majority of safety training and therefore their course will only last about three to four days; and another for ground staff, which will last about 20 to 21 days.
He said staff would be trained to the same level of any new recruit and said there would need to be a hierarchy with at least one senior cabin crew member.
Unite added according to BA's own cabin crew Joint Procedures manual 'experience' is defined as having three months operating experience as cabin crew within the last three years. Half of the minimum required crew complement on all flights must have this level of experience.
According to legal papers dated Nov. 5 and seen by Dow Jones Newswires, BA said, "It takes approximately 3 months to train new cabin crew."
-By Kaveri Niththyananthan, Dow Jones Newswires; 4420 7842 9299;
[email protected]