BA stops taking holiday bookings
Negotiators are hopeful the Bank Holiday strike can be avoided
British Airways has stopped selling tickets for flights over the August Bank Holiday, in what the airline said was a “precautionary measure”.
The airline is now refusing new bookings for departures between August 27 and 30, when strikes by check-in and ground staff could disrupt flights.
Talks resumed on Friday aimed at averting the walk-outs.
BA and the GMB and T&G unions said that their discussions on Thursday had produced substantial progress.
If the talks, fail, however, thousands of check-in staff and baggage handlers from both unions will stage a 24-hour walkout on Friday 27 August.
BA said it was “still hopeful” of a resolution to the dispute but said that it had taken a decision to stop taking bookings as a matter of “forward planning”.
Its decision covers all BA flights for the four days in question – not merely those flying to or from the airports affected.
‘Touching distance’
As talks resumed between BA and unions, one union source told the Reuters agency that it would be a “make or break day”.
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GMB chief negotiator Ed Blissett said on Thursday that he was “more confident than ever” that the strike would be called off.
Mr Blissett said significant progress had been made.
“I am very hopeful of reaching a resolution to this dispute,” he said.
“We are within touching distance of a deal although there is still a little way to go.
“BA has given us a new document which we will consider overnight but I am more confident than ever that we will not have a strike.”
On Friday, however, the GMB told BA that the strike on 27 August would begin at 0430 BST (0330 GMT) unless agreement was reached.
Progress
Mr Street, BA’s director of customer service and operations, had said earlier that there would be “no new offer on the one tabled 36 hours ago” by the airline.
But he, too, saw “substantial progress”.
“I am very much more confident,” he said.
“I hope we can bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.”
If the strike still goes ahead, airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh will be hit by massive disruption at a time when BA estimates it carries 100,000 passengers a day.
The airline had offered workers a revised deal of an 8.5% pay rise as well as a one-off payment of £1,000 if they take less than 16 days sick leave between October 2004 and September 2006.
BA says its staff take an average 17 days off sick each year, against a UK average of seven days.
Unions say the company should not link pay to absence rates.
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August 20, 2004 at 2:35 pm