14 DAY TRIAL // The Christmases of an estimated 1 million travelers are in danger of being completely ruined if British Airways continues to refuse to negotiate with cabin crew, who are unhappy about some recent measures as regards pay and cutting down expenses by letting people go. According to the BBC, the company is trying to legally block an extended strike, which has gotten union members upset for clearly closing down all communication channels.
At the center of the dispute is BA’s move to reduce cabin crew personnel and operate a pay freeze. Union members announced an intention to go on strike starting 22 December throughout January 2 if the two parties didn’t at least meet to discuss the measures. Instead of accepting the offer, which also included the possibility of delaying the strike for after the holiday season, BA went to court.
This, in turn, has prompted union members to speak of the company of choosing litigation over negotiation. Smack in the middle are about 1 million customers who have booked flights in this time interval to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve with family. Because there is literally no chance they can book something else over in such short notice and since other means of transportation are less convenient, it’s safe to say that their holidays are ruined if the two parties involved do not come to an agreement – and soon.
“Christmas travel on British Airways is being held hostage by a macho management which prefers imposition and confrontation, or even litigation, to negotiation. Last Friday we offered to suspend any industrial action and declare a pause for peace if the company would only agree to suspend its imposition of new terms and conditions on cabin crew. Willie Walsh turned this offer down flat. Confrontation, not negotiation, is his approach, even though an industrial dispute will cost the company vastly more money than his projected savings from attacking cabin crew conditions,” Unite union joint General Secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley say for the BBC.
Willie Walsh, chief executive at British Airways, would beg to differ, saying that it’s the Unite union which is shutting down all communication channels by threatening to go forward with such an “appalling, unjustified” move. As of now, nothing has yet been decided and both parties continue to think of ways of avoiding such a terrible inconvenience for the 1 million travelers.