BA Strike - Your Thoughts & Questions

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Staff Travel explained

"Twenty five per cent of cabin crew lost staff travel in March for going on strike.
The airline warned in January that strikers would face a permanent staff travel ban.
Crew taking part in the latest strike action were given the same warning.
Travel concessions are a non-contractual benefit offered at the company's discretion.
Staff travel was not the reason cabin crew first voted to go on strike. The ballot related to cost saving measures in IFCE. The airline has since addressed all those concerns and reached agreement in principle with Unite but not with its branch, Bassa.
During the negotiations facilitated by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), BA's CEO Willie Walsh agreed to a request from the TUC general secretary Brendan Barber to consider lifting the permanent ban on staff travel for crew who had lost it.
The compromise meant that commuting crew who had taken action would get the use of staff travel for journeys to and from work as soon as an agreement is reached. Other crew would get their concessions back once a deal was fully implemented. There were conditions attached to the offer including the roll back of seniority.
Everyone would get it back on retirement.
The offer included regular monitoring of the deal and its implimentation, with the first review after 12 months.
Willie Walsh said afterwards that he had agreed to the compromise because he felt that many crew had been misled by Bassa.
BA has recently made another significant gesture by keeping the staff travel offer on the table, despite stating it would be withdrawn if Unite went ahead with the current strikes.
Unite want staff travel to be returned immediately and in its current form."

"How does staff travel work?
Travel concessions are a non-contractual benefit provided at the company's discretion
Current and retired staff used more than 60,000 bookable concessions during 09/10, a significant rise since a more flexible policy was introduced in April 2009.
The airline incurs direct costs of putting an additional passenger onto a plane and the costs of the infrastructure that supports staff travel.
Colleagues pay a £10 booking fee to cover some of the costs.
Although strictly a personal tax liability, BA chooses to pick up the tax bill on behalf of both employees and pensioners and settles this with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs every year."

The above is lifted directly from BANews dated 27 May 2010.