BA, flight attendants agree to Tuesday deadline

British Airways and flight attendants represented by Unite set a Tuesday deadline "to determine whether or not a mutually acceptable settlement can be achieved," the UK Trades Union Congress said Friday.

The parties have been negotiating with help from the TUC, doing so in the shadow of a strike authorization passed by cabin staff late last month and subsequent plans by the airline to use volunteers, pilots and 23 wet-leased aircraft to maintain operations (ATWOnline, March 4).

The union said it will announce a strike date if no deal is reached by Tuesday evening. It must provide seven days' notice and must do so prior to March 15. "They are difficult negotiations, certainly," a Unite spokesperson told The Times. "The law imposes some degree of deadlines and we will have been talking for six or seven weeks now and in the end we have to see if we have an agreement or not. If there is no agreement there will be strike dates set."

BA intends to reduce flight attendant numbers on flights out of London Heathrow and freeze pay as part of a series of £140 million in cuts opposed by employees. According to some press reports, the union has offered a £60 million ($90.3 million) savings package that includes a 3.4% pay cut followed by a two-year salary freeze.