British Airways has received confirmation that a strike ballot by the Transport and General Workers Union’s cabin crew branch has produced a vote in favour of strike action.

According to BA, this does not mean that a strike is inevitable.

This possible strike action only affects British Airways mainline services.  BA Connect, franchise carriers and codeshare partners are unaffected.

BA said that it is very disappointed by the T&G’s threat of what would be completely unnecessary industrial action.

“We have arranged to meet T&G officials this week and we very much hope they will enter into meaningful discussion with us on the issues the union has raised.”

The union says that one of its key concerns is pensions - yet we have just concluded 16 months of talks by accepting a proposal put forward by the T&G and our other unions.  On that basis alone, we believe the T&G should pause to reflect before threatening the travel plans of our customers and their families.

On all the other issues the union has raised, we have suggested ways of meeting the union’s concerns - but up to now it has either refused to discuss our proposals or rejected them out of hand.

We have not been seeking to achieve new ways of working by imposition, but by negotiation - as in many other areas of our business.

The leaders of the T&G cabin crew branch have created a worrying time for our customers and our staff. We hope they will grasp the opportunity to put aside threats of disruption and resolve their concerns through proper negotiation.
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