BA's new Unite offer tipped to fail

: Latest News; Tuesday, 29 June 2010

UK carrier British Airways has made a new offer to Unite, the union representing cabin crew, in an attempt to end its ongoing dispute, but the union's response has been negative, despite delaying its next planned ballot to allow time to consult with its membership.

"We have changed our offer in line with feedback we have received from crew and we genuinely believe that it can end this dispute." BA's head of cabin crew Bill Francis stated.

BA said it is offering new top-up pay to existing cabin crew to guarantee they won't lose out on route allowances when newly recruited cabin crew start flying later this year.

All crew will receive a "guaranteed minimum amount of variable pay, irrespective of the routes they fly," the airline said.

The offer includes two years of assured rises in basic salary from February 2011 as well as annual pay increases.

Unite, which represents most of BA's 13,400 flight attendants, said the new offer probably would not end one of the most protracted and bitter industrial clashes in BA's history because the new deal is similar to proposals BA made in its last offer in April.

It also is said not to address the airline's withdrawal of travel concessions from striking workers.

In other news, initial reports from the UK indicate there could be as many as 25,000 applicants for the 1250 or so new cabin crew positions to be advertised by BA.

The carrier said it expects the applications register to be "oversubscribed".