Christmas chaos looms as BA staff vote to strike over ‘poverty pay’

Passengers on BA face potential Christmas disruption after a 2,500-strong group of the British flag-carriers’ junior cabin crew voted to strike over “poverty pay and broken promises”. Unite, which represents the “mixed fleet” cabin crew, did not say when their members might take industrial action but the vote in favour by 79% of the crew would allow the staff to take action any day from December 21. Problems at BA could coincide with potential disruption at Virgin Atlantic. One of its pilots’ unions is balloting staff over industrial action short of a strike and has said the action would take place on December 23 and 24. The potential strife reflects widespread frustration among staff at long-established legacy airlines over the stagnation of pay and benefits. Pilots at Germany’s Lufthansahave staged a series of strikes over the past two years, while flight attendants at Air France staged a strike this summer. The mixed fleet crew, who make up 15% of BA’s flight attendants, belong to a flexible unit set up to work on a range of the airline’s aircraft operating both long-haul and short-haul flights. Traditionally, airlines have split cabin crew between long-haul and short-haul operations, with new employees starting on the shorter flights on lower pay. The cabin crew voted to strike after rejecting a proposed 2% pay rise. Unite said that jobs in the mixed fleet group — to which all new BA cabin attendants are assigned — had been advertised as earning between GBP21,000 and GBP25,000 a year. But they had in fact started at just over GBP12,000 a year, with GBP3 an hour for the time they spent flying. Matt Smith, a regional officer for Unite, said members had voted overwhelmingly for strike action because BA’s pay rates were “indefensible” and the crew were at “breaking point”. British Airways said it was “extremely disappointed” the union was creating uncertainty for its customers.<br/>