BA and unions holding fresh talks

The announcement comes after Unite announced a ballot for industrial action among almost 14,000 workers in protest against the imposition of new employment contracts next month.

Parties attending the talks include officials for Unite and the GMB, the two of whom represent thousands of check-in and customer service staff, and BA chief executive Willie Walsh.

Officials hope the negotiations can get the talks, which first failed during the summer, back on track.

Unions say BA wants to cut around 10% of the so-called A-scales staff, amounting to 1,000 jobs.

BA itself has announced plans to cut total staff numbers by 3,700, in addition to a reduction of around 2,500 achieved between June 2008 and March 2009.

A BA spokesman confirmed there was a "senior level" meeting adding: "This follows the end of a cooling-off period with admin staff regarding pay and productivity talks. Willie Walsh is leading the meeting for BA - this is the normal process."

Steve Turner, national officer of Unite, warned there was a "very real possibility" that the dispute with BA could escalate to include different groups of workers as well as the cabin crew.

Mr Turner said planned changes affecting Terminal staff, administration employees and other workers were different to those being faced by cabin crew but he said the company's approach was the same. Union representatives were being isolated, the company was refusing to negotiate, had cancelled meetings at the last minute but was trying to blame the union, Mr Turner claimed.

Mr Turner also claims the company was looking for 1,250 job losses among the group including 800 at Heathrow Airport. "That is a huge number of people to remove from Heathrow and these are check-in clerks, customer transfer staff and other workers who create the ambience of travelling with BA. It beggars belief that the airline would want to cause conflict with workers who are so customer focussed and proud of their jobs that it is just unacceptable."