British Airways has asked ACAS to mediate after failing to get the unions to agree to plans to cut thousands of jobs and freeze pay for two years at the struggling airline.
The two sides missed BA’s self-imposed deadline of June 30th to reach an agreement on the restructuring.
A BA spokeswoman confirmed to News Line yesterday: ‘It has not proved possible to conclude an agreement with the trade unions on pay and productivity by the deadline, June 30.
‘We have therefore asked the conciliation service ACAS to facilitate any future meetings we may have.’
She could not say when these talks might be and would give no further details.
Talks broke down on Tuesday night, when the two sides were unable to make any progress, despite negotiations going on for weeks.
It is understood that union representatives ended negotiations at a Heathrow hotel at about 6pm, hours before the midnight deadline, but were prepared to continue the meeting yesterday.
British Airways indicated that it was willing to resume talks with Unite, which represents some 27,000 of BA’s 40,000 workforce, and the GMB union.
But Unite confirmed yesterday that BA didn’t turn up for talks planned for 9am.
The airline wants unions to agree to a deal that would freeze pay for two years.
The airline is also looking to cut more than 4,000 jobs, or over ten per cent of its workforce and wants workers to surrender their terms and conditions of service.
The carrier was said to be trying to soften the pay freeze by offering workers shares in the company.
Trade union negotiators are concerned over pensionable pay and the demand for a two-year wage freeze.
Unite accused BA bosses of treating the talks ‘as if several Christmases have come at once’ by demanding a raft of concessions on pay, working conditions and staff numbers.
Unite secretary for aviation Steve Turner played down the prospect of strike action.
He said: ‘If they are willing to reach an agreement we can reach an agreement.
‘I just wish they spent as much time talking to us about the art of the possible as they did about their wish list.
‘They are trying to force through all the things that they have not been able to secure in 25 years.’
The GMB said it was not walking away from the talks, but refused to recognise the deadline of 30 June.
GMB national officer Mick Rix said: ‘There is no critical deadline. It is not as if the company is bust.’
He added that BA was proposing a ‘two-tier workforce’ with new joiners being given different pay and conditions to current employees.
Unite has accused the BA chief executive, Willie Walsh, of trying to intimidate workers and their unions.
Last week, union leaders said the airline had undermined negotiations after it announced that 6,940 staff had volunteered for a temporary pay cut, including 800 employees who will work for nothing for up to a month.
Unite issued no instruction to members to refuse to work for nothing, or to volunteer for pay cuts.
It has also refused to demand the renationalisation of BA.
