British Airways Strike To Take Place During Summer Holidays

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British Airways staff at Heathrow have voted to strike during the school summer holidays.Whilst 81% of the members of GMB union voted to strike over pay, 63% of the Unite union also backed the industrial action.As a result of this, the summer could see over 700 British Airways staff striking.

This comes after thousands of people across the UK have been affected by flight cancellations and disruptions due to staff shortages. GMB National Officer Nadine Houghton, said in a statement: "With grim predictability, holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways."GMB members at Heathrow have suffered untold abuse as they deal with the travel chaos caused by staff shortages and IT failures.

At the same time, they've had their pay slashed during BA's callous fire and rehire policy.She added: "What did BA think was going to happen?"Giving his take, Unite officer Russ Ball, stated:"The problems British Airways is facing are entirely of its own making. It brutally cut jobs and pay during the pandemic even though the government was paying them to save jobs.

"It's been said that the staff who voted to strike at Heathrow, do not make up to 50% of the customer service team at British Airways.A spokesperson from the airline has expressed their "disappointment" in the potential strike. They said: "We're extremely disappointed with the result and that the unions have chosen to take this course of action."Despite the extremely challenging environment and losses of more than £4bn, we made an offer of a 10% payment which was accepted by the majority of other colleagues.

"We are fully committed to work together to find a solution, because to deliver for our customers and rebuild our business we have to work as a team."We will of course keep our customers updated about what this means for them as the situation evolves."