BA crew will strike to get a better deal - over sore toenails

Union bosses have drawn up a list of 12 health conditions – including blocked ears, colds, conjunctivitis and sexually transmitted herpes – which it says should excuse its members from flying.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers face being stranded from next week and over the half-term break by three separate three-day strikes that could cost the company £100 million.

Sign up for the latest news alerts

Cabin crew who are members of the Transport and General union voted overwhelmingly to strike and are furious at reported suggestions by BA bosses that they are malingerers'. BA says that before it introduced a sick leave policy in 2005, cabin crew took an average of 22 days sick leave a year, twice the national average.

That level has dropped to an average of 12 days a year since a deal struck in October 2005 for which cabin crew were paid £1,000 – but is still five days more than the national average of seven days off.

BA has contacted the conciliation service Acas in the hope of averting the strikes. BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the planned action is "unnecessary and unjustified" – highlighting also how much crew absenteeism appeared to coincided with "Bank Holidays, sunny August days, and major sporting events".

He added: "Unfortunately, because of the nature of the demands put forward by the T&G cabin crew union in recent days, we have not yet been able to find a solution or engage in the kind of positive dialogue we have achieved with other groups of employees."

In October 2005, BA agreed a new system with the unions which meant staff were closely monitored if they clocked up a set number of sick days.

They must explain themselves to managers if they have more than one period of sickness in three months, more than 10 days in a year or more than 21 days at a stretch.

Monitoring by bosses becomes more intense the longer and more frequently the employee is off work. Two BA staff have already been dismissed for excessively high absenteeism', says the airline.

BA currently excludes some conditions – such as diarrhoea and ear and nasal infections – which means they do not count towards the sick days.

The unions want more conditions put on the list of conditions including colds, blocked ears and ingrowing toenails.

This would give staff more leeway to be off sick without triggering extra supervision. BA estimates that giving in to the unions would increase average sickness within the crew community from 12 to 13.5 days and cost the airline £3.25million a year in replacement cover.

Both sides in the bitter dispute – over a cocktail of issues including sickness absence, pay and staffing levels – say they want to resolve it.

BASSA, the cabin crew arm of the giant transport union, has called its 11,000 members at the airline out on strike on January 29, 30 and 31 and warned of further stoppages on February 5, 6 and 7 and February 12, 13 and 14 unless there is a deal.

BA says it will allow customers booked to fly between January 29 and February 16 to change the date of their trip because of the prospect of disruption.

The cost of a strike, estimated at £100million if all three stoppages go ahead, would add to an expensive six months for BA.

The terror scare in August, which saw tougher security measures brought in after an alleged terrorist plot to blow up transatlantic airlines was thwarted, cost £100million.

And last month's poor weather conditions and severe fog which forced the airline to cancel more than 800 flights is estimated to have cost another £46million.