BA strike starts on Monday on after court strikes down injunction
Tens of thousands of British Airways passengers face flight cancellations over the Whitsun Bank Holiday and school half-term after the Court of Appeal overturned an injunction that was blocking a strike yesterday.
The Unite union said that cabin crew would stop work for five days from Monday, with further five-day walkouts due to start on May 30 and June 5.
Last night BA said that it was considering an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The joint union general secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, issued an ultimatum to Willie Walsh, the BA chief executive, to meet their demands on travel concessions and suspended union members or face the longest strike in the airline’s history.
If the action goes ahead, BA intends to operate a full schedule at Gatwick, a full schedule at London City, about 60 per cent of long-haul flights at Heathrow and about 50 per cent of the airport’s short-haul programme.
BA, which is expected to tell the Stock Exchange today that it has lost hundreds of millions of pounds for the second consecutive year, is showing little sign of giving way. No negotiations are planned and it is forging ahead with contingency plans to keep as many flights as possible running. A spokesman said: “Unite’s strikes have failed twice and they will fail again.”
The company said a peace deal remained on the table. Unite agrees that a deal is close, but the dispute remains locked over BA’s refusal to return unchanged travel concessions to thousands of crew who joined seven strike days in March, and to put the sacking of eight union members during the dispute out to third-party review.
The Appeal Court judges who overturned the injunction said that the dispute could be settled only through negotiation. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said: “Legal processes do not constitute mediation. They often serve to inflame rather than mollify the feelings of those involved.”
He sided with Justice Lady Smith to quash a High Court injunction granted on Monday against the strike, though the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, said that the injunction should stand. Their deliberations turned on the interpretation of section 231 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The clause says that a union must take all steps “reasonably necessary” to inform all members as quickly as possible after a ballot about the number of votes cast, the number of “yes” votes, “no” votes and the number of spoilt ballots. On February 22 the union sent members e-mails, text messages and tweets saying that the ballot had been carried by an overwhelming majority — but did not give the four pieces of information.
Mr Justice McCombe granted an injunction blocking the strike on those grounds. Lord Judge and Lady Smith overturned the decision and found that by posting results on its website, notice boards at Heathrow and Gatwick, and in a newsletter, the union had complied. Lord Neuberger disagreed. The Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, said: “It is in the interests of the travelling public, British Airways and the cabin crew, whose jobs depend on the future success of the airline, that both sides now urgently get back around the negotiating table.”
Investors have so far backed Mr Walsh. The City awaits today’s company results, which could take BA’s losses in the past two years to £1 billion.