Originally Posted by phreegreens

Teletext reporting first strike January 29th, 30th, 31st.

Edit: Confirmed on Five Live.

Originally Posted by Sky News

Thousands of British Airways cabin crew are to go on strike following a breakdown of peace talks on pay and staffing.

The stewards and stewardesses are set to hold a three-day strike from January 29 to 31, the Transport and General Workers Union has announced.

The strike threatens to cause travel chaos for the airline's customers.

The TGWU has warned there will be two further three-day stoppages in February unless the dispute is resolved.

The union held several meetings with BA bosses last week following a massive 96% vote for industrial action by the 11,000 cabin crew workers.

But the union has now announced that negotiations have broken down.

Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the union, said: "British Airways management have completely failed to engage with the union on our compromise proposals and appear unwilling to listen to this loyal, professional and hard-working group of employees.

"Our members are fed up with being bullied into coming to work when sick and with the divisions caused by poverty levels of new entrant pay scales.

"They see customer care being cut and the airline's reputation damaged by bungling management.

"BA now have seven days to take their responsibility seriously and work with the union to avoid disruption to services and inconvenience to passengers. We are ready to resume talks at any time."

The cabin crew complained that a new regime introduced 18 months ago on sickness pay meant they were forced to work when they were ill.

BA insisted it was merely cutting high levels of sickness absence.