British Airways has just recently put up an 11^th-hour counter offer as peace talks continue over a looming cabin crew strike. The airline responded to the Unite union’s offer of a 2.6 percent pay cut with its own demands. Unite said that it has serious concerns about the offer and have proposed further cost savings in the form of more cabin crew taking up part time work for the company.

The union did understand that British Airways has accepted a partial repeal of cuts to staffing levels on flights but wants fewer crew back on board than United has proposed. In another twist, Unite also wants British Airways to clear 37 airline staff who are facing disciplinary action over issues related to the industrial dispute.

The TUC, which is hosting these talks, had set a deadline of 5pm yesterday to achieve a deal. Both sides have a willingness to extend discussion if a deal is in sight. However, the outcome of the talks still will not be known for quite some time.

British Airways is seeking £60 million in annual cost savings from cabin crew. This is a sum achieved by unilaterally reducing staffing levels in November. Just this past Monday, Unite submitted its own proposal for saving the £60 million. This included pay cuts, partial repeal of the staffing cuts and the acceptance of new recruits at lower pay.

A strike could take place next Wednesday if the talks fail to reach some kind of agreement. Unite does have to give British Airways a seven day notice of strike action. British Airways plans to break any strike with 1,000 volunteer cabin crew members that have been drawn from its ranks of 38,000 employees.

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Filed under Business & Finance, Travel News, UK News

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 9:09 am and is filed under Business & Finance, Travel News, UK News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.