A 96 per cent vote by British Airways cabin crew to strike over management by imposition and the breakdown of respect and industrial relations was confirmed yesterday morning by the Transport and General Workers Union.
Speaking at a meeting of the cabin crew, Jack Dromey, T&G deputy general secretary, said the strong vote, with over nine out of ten backing action, showed just how serious the situation has become.
‘BA cabin crew have voted to say the airline has gone too far.
‘BA must rebuild the trust of its cabin crew by negotiating rather than imposing change and by listening to its staff rather than riding roughshod over their concerns,’ he said.
‘We will now meet with the BA managers and say we believe a new settlement is needed which recognises the strength of feeling of our members but also the strength of their concerns.
‘The vote is nearly unanimous – the clarity of its message leaves no room for doubt – that is the best basis for reaching a good negotiated settlement in our discussions tomorrow with BA.’
8,132 voted for strike action with only 330 against in a postal ballot which had a turnout of 80 per cent. That means 96.1 per cent voted to strike.
Two thousand cabin crew attended a meeting with Dromey this morning at Heathrow to hear the result which was simultaneously flashed around the world by email, sms and internet.
The T&G negotiators, led by Dromey, will meet with senior BA managers today (16th January).
The union said the cabin crew’s concerns, which include issues over the implementation of sickness absence policies as well as pay grading and on board staffing and responsibility levels, had built up over the last two years but had failed to be addressed properly by the company’s senior management.
The strike vote started in late December and concluded on Friday 12th January.
Cabin crew member Astrid told News Line after the meeting: ‘I am very proud of my colleagues. We have made a very strong decision.
‘We are united in this. It shows we do care about our company and our passengers.
‘They made decisions over our heads, over sickness policy etc. It is not on.’
Fellow crew member Bronwyn added: ‘Management should appreciate us like the public do.’
Steve Cressey a long haul purser said: ‘It is a big mess. We want BA boss Walsh out. We have had a massive yes vote.
‘We won’t put up with our current management dictating to us. We are definitely going to win this.’
As the 2,000 left the meeting they were all shouting Walsh out, Walsh out.
