Cabin crew row goes to High Court

British Airways cabin crew have begun voting on strike action

A row over new employment contracts for thousands of British Airways cabin crew will switch to the High Court when a union will start legal action against the airline.

Unite is seeking to challenge new contracts being imposed from November 16, arguing they will hit pay, terms and conditions for workers at a time when BA is cutting thousands of jobs and freezing pay.

BA insists the changes do not alter contractual terms and conditions for individual crew members and will resist the injunction application.

The union is to ballot over 13,000 of its members at the company for industrial action, raising the threat of strikes from December 21, at the start of the busy festive travel season.

Cabin crew vented their anger at BA during a mass meeting on Monday, making it clear they wanted to resist the cuts, with industrial action if necessary.

Unite's national officer Steve Turner said he expected "overwhelming support" for a strike, which would be the first walkout by BA cabin crew in 20 years.

He claimed industrial relations had broken down at the airline, blaming a new management team for being "completely misguided" about the strength of feeling among workers. He said it was not a traditional dispute because the union was not making any demands, it was merely seeking to minimise the "damage" being imposed on their members.

Mr Turner also warned that other groups of workers, including check-in and transfer staff, could also become involved in the dispute.

A BA spokesman said: "We have announced changes to onboard cabin crew numbers to enable us to accept more than 1,000 requests from crew for voluntary redundancy and more than 3,000 requests for part-time working. Our announcement followed more than nine months of negotiation and consultation with Unite. British Airways is facing very difficult economic conditions and is heading for a second consecutive year of financial losses for the first time in our history.

"We have put together a package of changes, which despite the unprecedented financial circumstances facing the company, not only protects current cabin crew but also offers many new benefits. We have made it clear that there will be no change to the individual terms and conditions of our current crew. They will not take a pay cut. In fact some 75% of crew will receive a pay scale increase worth between two and seven per cent this year and again next year. Our current cabin crew remain the best paid in the country by some way."