BA faces cabin crew rebellion

British Airways cabin crew delivered a huge vote for strike action last month over what the T&G general union described as a "breakdown in the relationship" between employees and management.

Sickness absence emerged as the key issue but there were problems too over pay and grading, and on-board staffing and responsibility levels.

T&G deputy general secretary Jack Dromey said members were fed up with being bullied into coming to work when they were sick, and the divisions caused by poverty-level new-entrant pay scales: "They see customer care being cut and the airline's reputation damaged by bungling management."

In an 80% turnout over 95% voted in a postal ballot for the action. The union promptly called for three days of strike action at the end of January (eventually reduced to two to allow for negotiations), followed by two 72-hour walk-outs this month if the dispute was not resolved.

The strike vote led to a series of exchanges between the union and the company, with chief executive Willy Walsh complaining about sickness absence levels. BA had, he told the BBC, asked the advisory and conciliation service ACAS to become involved.

The union, in turn, accused BA of putting out misleading information on absence, delaying the start of talks about the "unfair implementation" of sickness procedures.

The outcome of talks was to be revealed as Labour Research went to press.