British Airways cabin crew announce four fresh days of strikes will go ahead from 22 February
British Airways cabin crew will stage yet another batch of strikes in an ongoing pay dispute with the airline, Unite union announced today.
Four strikes will be held from 22 February, after Unite warned more walkouts would occur should BA not settle the row over "poverty pay".
There have been 11 days of strikes since the beginning of last month and four strike days planned for later this week, starting from 00:01 on Friday 17 February to 23:59 on Monday 20 February.
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Now Unite has planned fresh dates from 00:01 on Wednesday 22 February to 23:59 Saturday 25 February inclusively, after calling on BA to join talks at conciliation service Acas in an effort to reach a solution to the dispute.
Unite regional officer Matt Smith said: "For every hour British Airways 'wet leases' an aircraft from another airline to cover striking cabin crew it costs in the region of £2,000 to £3,000. Our estimates put the amount of money British Airways has spent on defending the dispute and poverty pay at £1m."
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He added: "We would urge British Airways to reconsider its costly intransigence and enter talks at Acas and reach an agreement."
The strike is by Unite members, in pursuit of higher pay for members of the so-called mixed fleet. The union says on average, those workers earn £16,000 a year, while BA says the annual pay is above £21,000.
A BA spokesperson said: "We will publish more details over the weekend in relation to further strikes called by Mixed Fleet Unite for 22-25 February, but as in previous strikes all customers will fly to their destinations."
The airline has previously stated its pay offer for mixed fleet crew is "consistent with the deal accepted by 92 per cent of colleagues across the airline, most of whom are represented by Unite".
On past strike dates, BA has announced that some flights were merged but all passengers reached their destinations. For this week's strike starting on Friday, BA will operate all flights to and from London Gatwick and London City as normal, while around one per cent of total flights at Heathrow will be merged.
Customers on those flights are being contacted with the options available to them.