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Easter breaks threatened as BA pilots vote for strike
Dick Murray, Transport Editor21.02.08
British Airways pilots have voted overwhelmingly for strike action.
Their union has earmarked three days of strikes but is holding off announcing dates.
Travel over Easter, one of the busiest times of the year, and BA's move to Terminal 5 next month are under threat.
Heathrow, used by 62,000 BA passengers a day, and Gatwick, by 15,000, would be among the worst affected airports.
The ballot of 3,000 pilots resulted in 86 per cent in favour of strikes, after 90 per cent of the pilots voted. The size of the majority shocked BA, the UK's largest carrier, which called on Balpa, the pilots union, to meet at the conciliation service Acas.
Any walkouts would be the first by BA pilots for 30 years. The dispute is over BA plans to create an airline with a separate group of pilots who will fly between New York and Paris or Brussels. Balpa fears this will lead to a lowering of working conditions that will spread to the main airline.
A union spokesman said: "BA plans to keep their wages low even when OpenSkies becomes profitable."
Balpa general secretary Jim McAuslan said: "We have seen it happening around the world. BA pilots are determined not to let the same thing happen to them and their families."
BA said it was disappointed with the ballot result, adding: " We have guaranteed to Balpa that OpenSkies does not represent a threat to the terms and conditions of BA pilots."
