BA cabin crew launch legal action

Their union, Unite, wants an injunction stopping BA from imposing cost-cutting proposals from November 16, arguing they will hit workers at a time when the airline is cutting thousands of jobs and freezing pay.

BA says that it is entitled unilaterally to reduce cabin crew complements on board their Worldwide and Eurofleet flights as these are not terms of individual cabin crew members' contracts.

But, John Hendy QC, speaking for three representative cabin crew, said that BA would be in breach of contract by imposing the changes as the existing crew complements were fixed by collective agreements with the unions and were "expressly incorporated" into their individual contracts of employment.

He told Mr Justice Butterfield at London's High Court that the changes would "materially and detrimentally affect the health and well-being of staff and passengers on board the flights".

BA's stance was that, while there would be a "modest increase in work output" for cabin crew, there were no health and safety concerns.

Mr Hendy said that it was commonsense that reducing crew complements - while requiring the same level of safety and service provision - would cause an overall increase in workload; working at greater intensity and speed; shorter rest breaks; additional stress; increase in fatigue; and conditions in which the risk of accidents and ill-health was increased.

Counsel said that the majority of the loss suffered by crews would be non-pecuniary in nature and extremely difficult to quantify in damages - an injunction would provide a "more just outcome".

At the start of the hearing the judge asked if anyone objected to him hearing the case as he had "flown on many occasions using British Airways". He disclosed the fact "out of an abundance of caution" but suspected the same problem would arise with any judge.

Mr Hendy said he was sure that both sides would regard it as an advantage that the judge had personal experience of the issues.