British Airways staff will participate in their first walkout in 12 years that will last from December 22nd through January 2nd!
WTF?!
Unfortunately, everyone who has booked their flights with the airline have little chance in finding other arrangements due to the holiday rush! Union leaders say that the decision to strike came “with a heavy heart” after 92.4% of its members voted on the action due to escalated pay and working conditions.
“You don’t often get ballot results like this unless there is a deep-rooted sense of anxiety, concern and anger,” said Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Leaders of Unite. “The problem with intransigent management is that you can push people so far, but eventually workers will say that enough is enough. We would like passengers to be angry with the company. It is something of an irony that the people responsible for making BA the best airline in the world are now engaged in a dispute.”
And the airlines will not budge!
“British Airways is extremely disappointed that Unite is planning massive disruption for hundreds of thousands of our customers over the Christmas/New Year holiday period. A 12-day strike would be completely unjustified and a huge over-reaction to the modest changes we have announced for cabin crew which are intended to help us recover from record financial losses. Unite’s cynical decision betrays a total lack of concern for our customers, our business and other employees within British Airways,” said the company.
Unite claims it has put forth a proposal that would have saved the company almost £60 million, including a pay cut, but no one will listen! British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh believes the airlines need to drastically cut costs to ensure its survival!
Wonder how much he gets paid!
The 13,000 employees will cost the company tens of millions of pounds every day!
Happy Holidays, stranded travelers!