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Musings

British Airways loses injunction bid. Appeal imminent but strike still not announced

An urgent hearing at the High Court in London for an injunction against British Airways pilots striking was heard yesterday. Arguments were heard from both sides and ultimately the judge ruled that correct procedure was followed with the balloting of BALPA members and that the result stands.

a large airplane on a runway

In a press release, BALPA's General Secretary, Brian Strutton, said:

“While we're pleased with the judge's decision, we're frustrated that time has been wasted. BA could have spent this time coming back to the negotiating table instead of trying – and failing – to tie us up in legal knots.

This delay will now continue with BA seeking to appeal against the Hight Court’s decision.

As a result it’s now likely the talks scheduled with ACAS on Friday will have to be postponed.

We ask that BA thinks hard about why 93% of our members feel so strongly about taking strike action.

The company itself has admitted that even one day of strike action would cost most than what our pilots are asking for, so the ball really is in their court here, to look after their pilots and ensure the hardworking public get to continue their holidays as planned.

We have still not set any strike dates to give BA one last chance to commit to negotiating on pilots pay and rewards with us at ACAS later this week.”

British Airways has been given permission to appeal which is likely to take place before the end of this week, though on what grounds I do not know. There may be a last-ditch negotiation attempt before any strike dates are announced so it may well be mid-August before any BA pilots take any industrial action. This could either ‘complement' or compound the misery that the Heathrow staff are also promising.

All the while it is rumoured that the strike would be costing British Airways an estimate $30-40 million per day.

2 Comments

    1. You’re asking the same question multiple times across different posts. As I commented before, no-one can give you a straight answer because no-one knows yet. Officially Aer Lingus is a different entity to British Airways albeit a sister airline within the IAG group. Aer Lingus are not striking, but no-doubt BA will need to hire standby pilots to mitigate damage of their own strike. Easiest answer? Recruit from within the same group. This could be from Iberia or Aer Lingus. That’s why no-one can tell you a straight answer yet.

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