Hopes of an end to the long-running row between British Airways and its cabin crew rose briefly on Friday after the airline made a fresh offer to end the dispute for the first time in two months. But the Unite union, which represents most of BA’s 13,400 flight attendants, gave a lukewarm response, saying it did not think it would end what has turned into one of the most protracted and bitter industrial clashes in BA’s history.
“While we are not at all optimistic this this offer provides a basis for resolution of the dispute, we will of course be considering it and consulting with our cabin crew representatives before making a formal response,” said Unite’s joint leader, Derek Simpson.
BA’s head of cabin crew, Bill Francis, said the airline had changed its offer “in line with feedback we have received from crew and we genuinely believe that it can end this dispute”. However, the new deal is similar to proposals BA made in its last offer in April and does not address any of the issues on which Unite is planning to start balloting staff from next Tuesday June 29, such as the airline’s withdrawal of travel concessions from striking workers.
If the new ballot is successful, it could mean a third round of walkouts over summer, following two earlier waves of stoppages that have forced BA to cancel thousands of flights since March.
BA’s move comes a day after it launched a campaign to hire more than 1,000 new flight attendants at its main Heathrow base on salaries of around £18,000, or nearly half what it pays most of its crew at the airport.
In its revised offer, it said it would make a top-up payment to guarantee existing crew would not lose highly-prized route allowance money when the new recruits started towards the end of this year.
A large portion of the Heathrow crew’s earnings come from allowances BA pays on top of their basic salaries, which the airline said exceeded £900 per flight on lengthy routes such as London to Narita in Japan.
The newly hired flight attendants will not get such payments but will instead be paid just £2.40 an hour from the time they arrive to begin their flights to the time they return, prompting fears among existing crew that the new recruits will be put on the highest-earning routes.
BA also said it was withdrawing a proposal made in its last offer in April – to reinstate some 180 crew positions cut last November – in return for reduced crew allowances. Some analysts believe that once BA knows how many new recruits it has, it will look at offering generous redundancy payments – including discounted staff travel for retirees – to encourage disaffected workers out of the business.