British Airways cabin crew suspend four-day strike
 

BBC

British Airways cabin crew have suspended a planned four-day strike.

Around 2,900 staff had been due to walk out from Friday in a long-running dispute about pay and benefits.

BA had said the crew's pay and rewards are in line with competitors but Unite said the action was about benefits not being reinstated for crew who took part in earlier industrial action.
The union says talks will now be held at conciliation service Acas to reach an agreement. Unite said the cabin staff, who work on both short and long-haul routes as part of the airline's "mixed fleet" agreement, are paid less than other BA crew.

"Mixed-fleet" cabin crew have staged 26 days of strikes so far, and Unite says that as a result, 1,400 of its members have had their travel benefits taken away. BA had called the new strike "completely unnecessary" adding it "had reached a deal on pay, which Unite's national officers agreed was acceptable". But the union said action had come about because the airline had treated staff who had participated in earlier strike action unfairly. "Punishing staff for using legitimate industrial means to reach a wage deal is a culture that Unite cannot accept," it added.

It comes as no surprise that an airline (airline group, in fact) that treats its customers with contempt following the disruption that resulted from management incompetence also treats its staff in the same high-handed manner, displaying just as much management incompetence and sheer stupidity with its human resources management as it does with its IT management.

It is high time for two things to happen;

a) A clean sweep of the Augean stables in the boardrooms of IAG and the group companies and,

b) The Government (if there is one) to launch a case to force the group to drop the word "British" from the name of every company in the group that presently has it, on the grounds that it falsely represents the ownership and values of the group.

No-one can't force them to do (a), so they won't. But we surely can get (b) into motion. I suggest a Petition, which I'm happy to launch if there is support for it here.

It would do the industry a power of good if a way could be found (I think it can) to force BA to give up its stranglehold on Heathrow; ie to sell at least 50% of its LHR slots, evenly distributed over the time of day.

It would also be good if all that were done before the outfit implodes, rather than in the chaos of the aftermath of the implosion.

By the way, if anyone is comforting themselves with the notion that BA operational and maintenance standards are exemplary regardless of the top management, have a read of the report into a 2016 incident. Go to the last page if you are in a hurry.

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i agree with your sentiments but I think the UK needs as trong British airways that does a decent job in terms of supporting business and tourism (inbound) . SoI would let them keep the British but only if they sack wee wilie and his Don Quixote friend as a symboic gesture l and then say if you don't sort yourselves out inside 2 years we are going to take the slots off you.

I think that really would focus the mind

As a country we seem to have a bit of a surfeit of arrogance and incompetence at the top just now

I think you mean British Airways Mixed Fleet Cabin Crew have suspended four day strike.

Jeremy Corbyn may well want to privatise London Airways if he ever becomes PM.

Clareprop

I went withe BBC headline - the important thing is a strike that might affect a lot of Prune readers is suspended - that is THE NEWS

The detail of who was going to strike and the issues are in the article ...................

Trust me on this; neither IAG nor any company in the Group, including British Airways, gives a toss about the welfare of business and tourism in the United Kingdom now, let alone when we leave the EU where, of course, IAG is registered, except to the extent the UK's economic state impacts on the Group's revenues.

Certain other airlines, notably Virgin, are at least British-owned and do a better job of supporting UK business and tourism although that is not their primary concern, any more than it's BA's.

Others exist only to take people out of the UK to their holidays.

To recap, the primary airlines in the IAG are Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling. Apart from its name, British Airways is no more and no less British than the other 3 airlines. They exist to create increased share value and dividends for the Group's owners who include, of course its senior executives.

Yup... exactly that, pride gone, fall coming up.

regretfully pride never paid a bill or a salary.... the whole world of business is very unsentimental these days - they've seen what happens to companies who try and swim against the tide

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VS are 51% owned by the mysterious Virgin Group and 49% by Delta Airlines....does that make you proud?