BA Take Tough Stance

British Airways has refused to give into Union demands over pay and working conditions by drafting in emergency staff for the proposed strike action of its workers. BA Chief exec Willie Walsh stated he had no intention of caving in on Union demands.

He stated that 1000 volunteers had been trained up and were ready to take the places of striking staff with another 5000 on stand by. Which is a clear sign of BA's intentions that it will not be held to ransom by Union Unite, staff who were planning on striking must now fear if they will have a job to come back to in light of the revelation.

Mr Walsh also revealed that 70% of staff have said they will still come to work even if the Union calls for a strike, which in turn would mean the airlines long haul and half the short haul services would operate as normal whilst London Centarl Airport would be unaffected.

With passenger numbers up despite the proposed strikes and premium traffic rising in February for the first time in 18 months, BA obviously feel they have the upper hand, Unite secretary Len McClusker said it was regrettable that BA had chosen this stance as ongoing meaningful talks were still taking place and re-itterted the fact they still hoped to resolve the situation.