British Airways and the cabin crew union are in dispute over the effectiveness of this weekend’s strikes

Airport news for Flights,Travel on 22/03/2010.

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British Airways has claimed that contingency plans against cabin crew strikes worked even better than expected. The three-day strike, which is due to end today, saw British Airways cabin crew walking out in disputes over job cuts and pay freezes. BA claims that 60 per cent of flights were operating over the weekend as it had been training staff to replace the strikers. The workers’ union, however, is claiming that the replacement efforts were futile.

The UK government has been striving to bring the two sides of this argument together and on Saturday night BA reported that two-thirds of their 1,700 staff has shown up for work. A number of flights that had previously been cancelled were also reinstated but it has been reported that other airlines did, however, have to be bought in to help transport BA’s passengers.

It is thought that the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also be working hard to resolve the conflict, spurred on by fears that the dispute would affect the Labour Party’s general election preparations.

BA’s move to cut jobs and freeze pay is said to have come as a result of the downturn in people taking flights since the global credit crunch took hold. BA claims the cuts are the only option if they want to keep fares low for passengers. Another walkout has been planned by the union for March 27 to March 30.

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