British Airways Pilot Strike Is a Go
Jackie Reddy July 31, 2019
Earlier this month, BA pilots voted in favor of strike action. Despite an attempt by the airline to halt the stoppage, the strike is set to go forward after the Court of Appeal dismissed BA’s legal attempt to halt this action. The airline has said that it is “disappointed” by the course of action.
A proposed strike by pilots at British Airways (BA) is set to take place after legal authorities in Britain halted the airline’s attempts at scuppering the industrial action, Reuters reports. In a move that could potentially have a major impact on BA during the height of the summer travel season, the airline’s pilots voted earlier in July to strike overpay. As Metro.co.uk notes, this is the second time that the airline has lost a legal bid to stop these strikes.
In a statement on the decision by the Court of Appeal, Brian Strutton, the general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA), said, “BA’s attempt to defeat the democratic view of their pilots in court, rather than deal with us across the negotiating table, has sadly wasted huge amounts of time and money that could have been put into finding a peaceful resolution. Now the window for negotiation and compromise is closing fast.”
“BA need to wake up to reality. Our ballot returned 93 percent in favor of strike action. There is a serious issue here and BA has so far refused to help us tackle it,” he continued, saying that the union would seek to ultimately resolve the pay issue via negotiations rather than industrial action.
Strutton added that BA has “refused” to amend its position with regards to pay.
In a statement quoted by the outlet, BA stated that it was, “disappointed that the pilots’ union, BALPA, has chosen to threaten the holidays of thousands of our customers this summer with unprecedented strike action.”
It added that its pay offer of 11.5% spread over three years is just, but added that, “we continue to pursue every avenue to find a solution to avoid industrial action and protect our customers’ travel plans.”
A firm date for the strike action has not yet been set, but it is thought it could commence in early August.
[Featured Image: Shutterstock]
many at very high cost BA with very high airfares, will get a small pay cut of 100%. What ignorant idiots. Will BA survive ?
"even a single day of strike action will cost far more than we believe it would take to settle this dispute." - Brian Strutton/BALPA He very well summarized how unions function: "giving us what we want, reasonable or not, is cheaper for you than fighting us".... organized extortion in other words.
I'd love to get a guaranteed pay increase of 11.5% over 3 years.
are these pilots insane ? We're heading into the world biggest recession, where many will take a pay cut of 100% & airlines especially high cost/high fares airlines like BA, will feel it most. Many passengers are already switching to low cost airlines, or not flying at all.