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BA ground staff at LHR: Summer '22 strike threat suspended after deal agreed

Old Jun 24, 2022, 4:09 pm
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LATEST UPDATE: 7 July 2022

British Airway's employed ground staff, based mainly at LHR. have voted in favour of strike action in respect of a dispute relating to pay and conditions. This strike ballot is valid for 6 months, and allows the unions to nominate strike dates, provided the employer has 2 weeks notice of the strike. The general tendency in the UK is for relatively short strike dates, typically a day or two, but several of them separate by several days.

Updated: 7 July/2022, no strike dates have been provided and an agreement in principle has been reached with the Unions. Two weeks notice must be provided by the unions. This means there will be no strikes before 21 July 2022. However though the ballot is valid 6 months, the first strike needs to be within 4 weeks, which is 23 July 2022. This can extended by a further 4 weeks if the employer agrees, for example to facilitate a ballot of the agreement. So that suggests there won't be a strike in July and there may well be no strikes at all for this employment group.

Those involved in this strike are check-in staff, baggage handlers, lounge staff, gate agents, some turnaround managers, and related airport staff. Cabin and flight crew are not in this dispute. LGW and LCY flights are not in this dispute. Contract ground agents - at LHR and out stations - are also not involved. Some roles can be performed by management, but it is unlikely that core activties at LHR Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 can avoid significant disruption. If flights are disrupted by strkes then usually BA allows people to move their flights to alternative dates and other arrangements (e.g. rebooking on AA). There is a separate dispute being worked through involving call centre staff and engineers, but there is no ballot at this point, so any strike is some way off.




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BA ground staff at LHR: Summer '22 strike threat suspended after deal agreed

Old Jun 24, 2022, 2:09 am
  #136  
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Originally Posted by JackDann
He's got a point - say 80% of the workforce were to walk out (Not under the banner of a Union), I don't think BA are in a position to sack the lot of them. Not really sure what the point of this argument is though.
i agree. I think we are getting sidetracked in to something which simply isnt actually going to happen.
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 2:12 am
  #137  
 
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As a data point, in a previous strike we were due to travel home on a direct flight BGI-LHR, instead BA re routed us BGI -MIA on AA, MIA-MAD on IB and MAD-LHR also on IB. Total route took about 10 hours longer, no compensation due.
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 2:26 am
  #138  
 
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Originally Posted by bluemoon68
As a data point, in a previous strike we were due to travel home on a direct flight BGI-LHR, instead BA re routed us BGI -MIA on AA, MIA-MAD on IB and MAD-LHR also on IB. Total route took about 10 hours longer, no compensation due.
not a bad tier point run!
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 3:10 am
  #139  
 
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Has there been any word from Doyle?
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 4:42 am
  #140  
 
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Summer strike

Is there any insider sniff from someone here connected with BA of dates that these strikes might be, if they go ahead?

I have long-haul flights booked on July 2nd, coming back to London on the 12th, carrying on to the States on the 14th and wonder if I need to hold something as a back up.

Maybe too early to know.

Thanks
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 4:45 am
  #141  
 
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The general consensus seems to be they’ll target the start of the English school holidays around the 22nd/23rd/24th, so you may be ok.

Last edited by Oxon Flyer; Jun 24, 2022 at 7:23 am Reason: Remove redirection link after threads were merged
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 4:52 am
  #142  
 
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Will this strike affect Iberia flights from T5?
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 5:00 am
  #143  
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Originally Posted by oruvin
Will this strike affect Iberia flights from T5?
Potentially yes, but more to do with the stuff behind the scenes, since Iberia is / has moved to Menzies doing their handling.
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 5:01 am
  #144  
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Originally Posted by flybymonkey
Has there been any word from Doyle?
Originally Posted by British Airways
Were extremely disappointed with the result and that the unions have chosen to take this course of action. Despite the extremely challenging environment and losses of more than 4bn, we made an offer of a 10% payment which was accepted by the majority of other colleagues.

We are fully committed to work together to find a solution, because to deliver for our customers and rebuild our business we have to work as a team. We will of course keep our customers updated about what this means for them as the situation evolves.
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 5:17 am
  #145  
 
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I also think that the BA staff have a point in this situation and as others have said, they may have broader support than is usually the case with potential strike action.

However, aiming for the peak summer holiday times might seem clever by the union but will rapidly lose support if they hit family holidays. Im due to fly long haul from LHR with my family on 22 July and we fervently hope that we wont be impacted as this holiday has been a very long time in the planning.
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 5:21 am
  #146  
 
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Originally Posted by GogLobster
Seriously? This is a company taking the piss out of its workers. This is entirely the fault of the company.
And its a free market, leave, dont blackmail / hold to ransom (and ruin peoples holidays) - childish behaviour

the free labour market speaks for itself
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 5:24 am
  #147  
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Originally Posted by JackDann
Have BA already completely Culled reward flights for July. Absolutely nothing at all from BHD to LHR for all of July but availability every day in August

I've just double checked this (Not after a couple of pints) and I was right, there is not a single reward flight available for the whole of June. Extremely annoying! Still reward availability on EI although extortionate Taxes and Fee's.
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 5:33 am
  #148  
 
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Originally Posted by PGberkshire
And its a free market, leave, dont blackmail / hold to ransom (and ruin peoples holidays) - childish behaviour

the free labour market speaks for itself
Leave and go where mate? These people have bills to pay, families to support. The power balance between employer and employee is inherently skewed towards the employer unless one is fortunate enough to be in a position where the mortgage is paid in full, the dependents have moved out of the house, and there's sufficient savings in the bank that one can simply walk out without consequence. For the vast majority of people in this country that is not the case, and it's only the combination of employment law and the risk of union action acting as a bulwark against the worst excesses of boardrooms across the country who are incentivised to drive down wages minimise bottom line expenditure in order to maximise the share price and trigger their own inventive payouts.
The fact that the union ballot is overwhelmingly in favour of strike action suggests that this is not childish at all but is either a colossal example of groupthink in action, or (vastly more likely IMO) a genuine sense of injustice amongst the workers upon whose labour the business depends.
If you think that your holiday is more important than the ground staff having to choose between feeding their kids and heating their homes this winter then I don't know what to say to you.
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Last edited by Joeykins; Jun 24, 2022 at 5:33 am Reason: another post appeared before what I was trying to reply to
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 5:36 am
  #149  
 
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Originally Posted by PGberkshire
And its a free market, leave, dont blackmail / hold to ransom (and ruin peoples holidays) - childish behaviour

the free labour market speaks for itself
It's also a free market for summer holidays, unless you're suggesting changing employer is easier than changing your summer holiday plans...
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Old Jun 24, 2022, 5:36 am
  #150  
 
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Originally Posted by PGberkshire
And its a free market, leave, dont blackmail / hold to ransom (and ruin peoples holidays) - childish behaviour

the free labour market speaks for itself
So if a good proportion leave as you say then how will that help mitigate the disruption given the replacements will take up to 16 weeks to get their airside passes and complete their onboarding? Not to mention the training needed.

Wouldnt it be better to give back the 10% pay cut to a workforce that is already in situ?
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