BA check-in staff at Heathrow call off strike following salary increase
Union members working as British Airways (BA) check-in staff have suspended a planned strike action at Heathrow following a salary increase.
Unite said that, after extensive negotiations, BA made a “vastly improved pay offer.”
The proposal will now be submitted to workers who are expected to vote on whether to accept it.
“We welcome that BA has finally listened to the voice of its check-in staff,” said the union’s general secretary Sharon Graham.
“Unite has repeatedly warned that pay disputes at BA were inevitable unless the company took our members’ legitimate grievances seriously.”
The industrial action was announced on 23 June after the unions Unite and GMB demanded to reinstate a 10 per cent wage cut taken by ground staff during the pandemic.
Even though no date was announced, it was understood that Unite GMB, would target the third or fourth weekend of July, to create maximum disruption to Britons going away for the summer break.
Commenting on today’s decision, the airline said: “We are very pleased that, following collaboration with the unions, they have decided not to issue dates for industrial action. This is great news for our customers and our people.”
The news comes at a delicate time for BA, as the airline yesterday was forced to axe another 10,300 flights for the August to October period as a way to guarantee smoother operations amid the ongoing travel chaos.
The carrier said it was taking advantage of the “amnesty” period granted by the UK Government over airport slots.
Now involving 13 per cent of its short-haul flights, the cuts are expected to leave long-haul services unaffected.
“While taking further action is not where we wanted to be, it’s the right thing to do for our customers and our colleagues,” said yesterday a company spokesperson.
To help face the ongoing travel disruption, BA announced yesterday it had appointed KLM’s Rene de Groot as chief operating officer, City PM reported.
In a letter to staff seen by the PA news agency, chief executive Sean Doyle said the 53-year-old Dutch businessman was “very familiar with the issues that we’ve been grappling with” as he carried KLM during the pandemic.
“I am confident that Rene will help us to rebuild our airline and become a better BA,” Doyle wrote to employees.
BA is not the only legacy carrier affected by the disruption, as German airline Lufthansa announced it would cancel domestic and EU flights from Frankfurt from today for a week