BA strike talks continue

Travellers got a bit of a boost today as strike talks continue and further talks were agreed. The union, Unite, representing 12,000 cabin crew said they will carry on talks with BA officials for an extra day.

No agreements have been made as yet and the deadline for an end to talks was pushed back from 5pm this afternoon to tomorrow, as they work to end the deadlock.

If no agreement is reached tomorrow, Unite will likely announce dates for strikes. They are required to give a seven day notice of a walkout, but have already agreed to no strikes over Easter.

Unite’s chief negotiator remains ‘positive’ about BA staff reaching a settlement before they decide to strike

Last night, Unite’s chief negotiatior Len McLuskey described the chances of avoiding a strike as evenly split as a ‘toss of a coin’ but remained ‘positive’ a deal could happen.

He added: ‘We’ve said all along we would like to negotiate a settlement, and I remain positive about these things.’

BA has reported they have 6,000 volunteers signed to break a strike, including 1,000 cabin crew if the union strikes.

Mr Walsh also revealed BA will hire 23 fully crewed planes from charter companies to help run flights from Heathrow in the event of industrial action.

Mr Walsh said he did not want a strike to go ahead, adding that he was willing to talk to unions about any concerns cabin crew workers had raised, but he stressed changes made to onboard crew members would not be reversed.