Fri, Mar 26, 2010
BA Braces For Second Round Of Cabin Crew Walkouts
Pilots for Lufthansa continue to
threaten to walk off the job as the summer travel season
approaches, while BA is making plans to continue flying through a
second round of walkouts by its cabin crews in as many weeks.
Lufthansa's pilots union has called a walkout at all locations
in Germany in mid April, according to ABC News, The union said it
was giving advance warning to east problems during the Easter
holiday, and hoped to convince airline representatives to return to
the bargaining table. Lufthansa pilots and the airline are in a
dispute over wages, safety, and working conditions. The German
broadcaster Deutche Welle reports that Lufthansa's cabin crews are
considering honoring the pilot's walkout if it happens.
Meanwhile, British Airways said it
would again lease additional airplanes and temporary cabin crews to
continue flying when its regular cabin staff walks off the job
again this weekend. The international news service AFP reports that
BA plans to run all of its scheduled flights from London's Gatwick
and City airports, but would fly only about half of it's short-haul
flights and 70 percent of its long-haul routes from Heathrow.
BA CEO Willie Walsh said the airline's plans worked out well
when some BA crews did not report for work last weekend. "The
biggest contingency plan in our history went extremely well last
weekend with large numbers of cabin crew reporting for work as
normal," he said.
However Unite, The Union, which represents BA's cabin crews,
said only about 20 percent of the workers reported for duty. The
union represents about 12,000 BA cabin staff workers.
One labor dispute appears to be resolved, however, as the pilots
union for TAP Airline in Portugal have reached agreement with the
airline for a new contract. USA Today reports that the deal was
reached Tuesday, and includes a 1.8 percent pay increase for
cockpit crews, plus a share of any savings obtained through
streamlining.
The pilot's union's 800 members had planned a six-day walkout
over the pay dispute.
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