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

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

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Old Jul 8, 22, 5:28 pm   -   Wikipost
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Last edit by: Tobias-UK
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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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Old Jun 23, 22, 8:23 am
  #76  
 
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Originally Posted by 13901 View Post
Come on Sean, listen to your people and do some meaningful negotiation. Prove you're different from Cruz.
I don’t think Sean has had enough time yet to have changed enough people in the “leadership team” to change the toxic , overly macho, bullying culture that existed under Cruz. I hope Sean can bring a bit of sense to the table, but he is dealing with the legacy of a lot of anger created by the leadership team ( a group most people wouldn’t follow to the pub) over the last few years. Sean will get the blame, because that’s the way it goes but the culture and attitudes developed and were nurtured over a long period, it will take a long time to change.
Last edited by Waterhorse; Jun 23, 22 at 9:26 am
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Old Jun 23, 22, 8:26 am
  #77  
 
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Presumably this will ground flights completely, or do you think that BA will be able to operate a limited service (in and out of Heathrow)?
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Old Jun 23, 22, 8:27 am
  #78  
 
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Originally Posted by Waterhorse View Post
I don’t think Sean has had enough time yet to have changed enough people in the “leadership team” to change the toxic , overly macho, bullying culture that existed under Cruz. I hope Sean can bring a bit of sense to the table, but he is dealing with the legacy of a lot of anger created by the leadership team ( a group most people would follow to the pub) over the last few years. Sean will get the blame, because that’s the way it goes but the culture and attitudes developed and were nurtured over a long period, it will take a long time to change.
I agree, though I hear that most of the people I thought were utter w*nkers have disappeared from the LT table. But the next level down remain.

Still, a CEO's role is also to chart the course and to step in. I hope he does it with these staff negotiations. Somehow I doubt it though.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 8:28 am
  #79  
 
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Originally Posted by MH1981 View Post
I may well be affected by this but I don’t blame the staff at all. To not reinstate the pay cut enforced during the pandemic is downright outrageous. This needs to be dealt with asap.
Agree and even worse it seems senior management got the pay reinstated. Who thought that was a good idea.

This just goes to show that when you abuse your staff and then want them to work harder as you are now understaffed it bites you in the backside.

And boy did BA take the Micky...
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Old Jun 23, 22, 8:43 am
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Originally Posted by jeremyBA View Post
Agree and even worse it seems senior management got the pay reinstated. Who thought that was a good idea.

This just goes to show that when you abuse your staff and then want them to work harder as you are now understaffed it bites you in the backside.

And boy did BA take the Micky...
I feel for the staff at BA holidays who are now going to be inundated with calls from worried families but without having much info to provide back to customers.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 8:52 am
  #81  
 
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It’s impossible to be surprised at this considering the way BA behaved during Covid. Just think if the Cruz and Walsh era was grim for us I can only imagine how badly the staff must have been treated.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 8:58 am
  #82  
 
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This strike could so easily have been avoided. It beggar's belief the stupidity of the management.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 9:04 am
  #83  
 
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This is genuine head-in-the-hands stuff from BA. The 'extraordinary event' which gave rise to the pay cut is gone: give it back.

What a horrible way to treat your staff.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 9:04 am
  #84  
 
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Originally Posted by South London Bon Viveur View Post
Presumably this will ground flights completely, or do you think that BA will be able to operate a limited service (in and out of Heathrow)?
BBC News are reporting that BA has back up staff, managers etc to operate check in..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61906236
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Old Jun 23, 22, 9:18 am
  #85  
 
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There are times when companies are right to allow strike action to happen and resist demands, and times when they should come to a deal, and quickly. This is the latter.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 9:20 am
  #86  
 
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The check in/gate staff won’t be the biggest issue. They don’t have the real numbers.

The ramp staff on the other hand…….. that ballot will be in excess of 90%. This is what will ground flights, not the check in staff.

LGW will be Ops normal.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 9:23 am
  #87  
 
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I have empathy with the staff; they've been treated horribly. Sort it out and do the decent thing, BA!
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Old Jun 23, 22, 9:30 am
  #88  
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Originally Posted by Berrisfo View Post
I have empathy with the staff; they've been treated horribly. Sort it out and do the decent thing, BA!
Well it doesn't seem to be only BA. It's just about every airline in Europe.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 9:48 am
  #89  
 
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Originally Posted by wb1969 View Post
This strike could so easily have been avoided. It beggar's belief the stupidity of the management.
I can usually see the arguments of both sides in a labour dispute but in this case BA management are 100% in the wrong. Hopefully they will quickly come to their senses. Surely the relatively low cost of settling the dispute must be better than the reputational damage to the company from a summer strike.
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Old Jun 23, 22, 9:58 am
  #90  
 
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Mention of LGW is surprising given that they are now GGS and not BA.

This discussion around a 10% reduction to best of my knowledge is a section of the check-in staff only. There is a lot of information that is being left out. Managers got the same offer that was given to all staff earlier this year. The unions rejected that offer for the same staff they now have balloted for strike.
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