4th March 2010
British Airways has retrained 1,000 staff to counter potential
strike action of its cabin crew.
Ground staff who put themselves forward to replace striking
cabin crew have been pulled off their regular duties for three
weeks to learn about in-flight safety and customer care. The crash
course has been approved by the Civil Aviation Authority.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said 6,000 staff in total had
volunteered but only 1,000 had finished the training.
'Ghost flights' between Heathrow, Cardiff and Glasgow have been
run to give the volunteers practice.
Guy Lamb, employment partner at law firm DLA Piper, said BA's
use of volunteer staff was lawful.
"Unlike the challenge to Royal Mail's use of agency staff, there
is nothing to stop an employer using their existing workforce to
cover the roles of striking colleagues," he said.
BA also plans to use 23 fully crewed planes from another company
as well as employ crew from rival airlines, if a strike is put into
action. The airline intends to continue to operate all long-haul
flights from Gatwick, and keep half of its short-haul flights
running.
In an email to staff, Walsh said: "These plans will allow us to
protect our customers' travel arrangements better than many people
imagined possible in the difficult conditions that a strike by the
biggest section of our workforce is bound to cause."
Members of the Unite union voted in favour of industrial action
last month and have until March 15 to declare a date.
There are fears that cabin crew will strike for up to 12 days
during the busy Easter period, affecting the holiday plans of
thousands of families.
Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Unite, described
Mr Walsh's action as "inflammatory and confrontational".
He said: "The only way to resolve the issues before us is
negotiation. They will certainly not be addressed by attempting to
intimidate employers."
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