New offer from British Airways could postpone cabin crew strike ballot
27-Jun-2010 Unite the union confirmed today (Sunday) that the new offer to British Airways cabin crew could lead to the postponement of the new industrial action ballot which was set to begin on Tuesday, June 29th.
Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley, said: "As a consequence of the company's last and final offer the union and its representatives will have no choice but to delay our vote in order to allow our members to consult on the offer.
"The company has made it clear that the offer on the table will be removed if the strike ballot starts on Tuesday.
"It would be therefore be inexplicable if we did not put this offer to our members, and I expect this course of action will be confirmed by our cabin crew representatives when they meet tomorrow."
However, Unite has warned that it is not in a position to recommend the BA proposal to members because it does not fully reinstate staff travel arrangements stripped from crew who took lawful industrial strike action in March and May.
Tony Woodley added: "The fact that staff travel arrangements have not been restored to thousands of crew prevents this offer from BA being the breakthrough everyone seeks.
"Failure by BA to restore travel in full means the possibility of a recommendation nil and makes acceptance of the offer uncertain."
Tony Woodley ended: "This dispute could have been settled months ago. A company cannot expect to attempt to beat its employees into submission and still function normally - it has to win hearts and minds if it is to progress. By choosing conflict over consensus, BA has lost tens of millions of pounds and one and half million BA passengers have deserted the airline for other carriers.
"We hope that postponement of the strike ballot will give them time to reflect on what more BA needs to do to restore peace and stability to this company."
Unite said the new proposal contains protections for existing members from the new fleet inferior contracts BA is introducing and will provide cabin crew a minimum allowance payment, an improvement to the flat fee that had been offered before. Unite is also seeking an independent review of the cases of members suspended and sacked during the dispute.
The consultative ballot on BA's new proposal could begin this week.