After unions claimed that British Airways had offered a “vastly better” pay package, strike action by 700 British Airways staff at Heathrow was suspended.
According to the Unite union, an agreement was reached after extensive talks.
GMB and Unite union members will vote on the new pay agreement.
Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, stated that BA had finally listened to its check-in staff.
Nadine Houghton (GMB national officer) added that “all our members were asking was what they were due.” British Airways is finally making progress on its pay.
“All of our members, who are mainly low-paid women, wanted to be given back the BA pay cuts they received during the pandemic. We threatened them with fire and rehire them if they didn’t.
BA stated that it was pleased with the decision of unions not to issue industrial action dates.
A statement stated that “This is great news to our customers and for our people.”
Workers, who are mainly check-in staff, voted last month to strike over pay. Unions claimed the action was due a 10% pay cut that was imposed at the height of the pandemic and not being reinstated.
BA, which operates at Terminals 3 and 5 at Heathrow, would have plans to cover all staff, including those who might be responsible for check-ins, if the strikes were successful.
However, passengers would have experienced disruptions at the terminal five and this could have led to cancellations.
An initial offer by the airline was a temporary bonus of 10% to staff, rather than a reverse of the pay cut.
According to British Airways (BA), the offer, which was rejected in union representation of check-in staff, was accepted by other business units, including ground operations and engineering workers.
British Airways wants to avoid more chaos in an year filled with chaos.
Heathrow’s ground staff want their wages to be restored to what they were before the pandemic.
It appears that the threat of strike action this summer has been successful.
BA’s compromise offer could have ripple effects throughout the company.
Because the cost of living is rising quickly, many workers in other areas of the company are now focusing on future pay deals.
BA has been known to be open to playing hardball with its employees in the past. This allowed BA to avoid strikes and keep costs down.
If that is not the case, employees may feel empowered to increase their demands.
In the last few weeks, airport disruptions and cancellations have affected tens of thousands of passengers.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled across the UK during the week of Platinum Jubilee, as well as school half-term holidays. There have been concerns about further travel problems during the summer.
This disruption was caused by factors such as staff shortages, which have left the aviation sector struggling to meet resurgent demand overseas.
BA announced Wednesday that it would be reducing 10,300 short-haul flights because of the inclusion in its schedule between August & October.
Between April and October, BA has removed nearly 30,000 flights from its schedule.
