‘COLOSSAL profits confirm British Airways can easily afford to end the obscenity of cabin crew poverty,’ Unite said yesterday responding to BA’s announcement yesterday of profits of a whopping £975m for the half year to July 2017, a rise of nearly 40 per cent.
Unite said: ‘BA mixed fleet cabin crew end a 14-day stoppage at midnight on 1 August. Should the company fail to resolve the dispute with the Unite members, then another 14-day dispute will begin on 2 August.’
British Airways Mixed Fleet Unite shop steward Pedro Azevedo told News Line: ‘It shows that they can easily afford to give us what we are asking for. They are making huge profits and they offer us 6p on our hourly rate and 2% on our basic, which is an insult.
‘We have announced new strike dates from 2nd to 15th August – 14 days. Our membership is growing – more and more people are joining the union. There are 3,200 in mixed fleet now – a powerful work force.
‘We are fighting for a wage that we can live on. We have a lot of members asking to access the union hardship fund and asking to be on the foodbank because they cannot afford groceries. BA is also attacking other Heathrow workers” pensions. There should be united action, it would strengthen them and it would strengthen us, it would be synergy.
”On 1st August we’re going to join the St Bart’s strikers at 10am. People who do the most important jobs are treated with contempt. They definitely deserve what they are asking for. We identify with their cause. It’s like the situation with the pensions. If you join forces it does become a synergy.’
BA Mixed Fleet striker Gerald said: ‘They’ve announced new gigantic profits, it’s shameful for them not to pay us properly. We are really motivated and you can see it, so many people are joining the union every day. They are fed up and really angry with what the company is doing, emailing us individually, claiming that everything is okay, claiming that the strike doesn’t have any impact on the operations and that we should give up.
‘We are claiming proper pay and proper conditions and that we shouldn’t be punished for a legal industrial action. They are victimising us by taking away our staff travel and our bonuses and so many things. They are trying to get BA downmarket, destroying the reputation of the company, destroying everything which BA stood for, they want to turn us into a low cost airline.
‘We are asking for at least the minimum wage. We don’t get the minimum wage. We get a basic salary below the minimum wage, it’s not right. We should be paid for every hour of working. They also want to cut pensions throughout BA, so we are thinking that everyone should come out. This is hitting everyone, cabin crew, pilots, ground staff, engineers, so many workers on the BA payroll. Unite should call everyone out.’