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| Union calls off BA strike action | Union calls off BA strike action |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A planned two-day strike by thousands of British Airways cabin crew has been called off, the airline has said. | A planned two-day strike by thousands of British Airways cabin crew has been called off, the airline has said. |
| Talks between BA and the Transport and General Workers Union had been going on to try to avert the stoppages on Tuesday and Wednesday. | |
| BA executives and union leaders said an agreement had been reached on the key issue of pay and the management of sickness absence. | BA executives and union leaders said an agreement had been reached on the key issue of pay and the management of sickness absence. |
| BA will now attempt to reinstate as many flights as possible. | BA will now attempt to reinstate as many flights as possible. |
| Two potential 72-hour strikes earmarked for February have also been called off. | |
| 'Excellent job' | |
| BA had already cancelled all flights out of Heathrow and domestic and European flights out of Gatwick for Tuesday and Wednesday. | |
| Although the strike has now been called off, BA said that the agreement had come too late to prevent disruption to many of its flights. | |
| We believe this agreement lays a firm foundation to enable us to provide even higher standards of onboard service for customers in the future Willie Walsh, BA chief executive | |
| BA chief executive Willie Walsh and other managers had been negotiating with officials from the T&G union, including its general secretary, Tony Woodley, across the weekend. | |
| Both sides had been seeking an agreement to avoid a 48-hour walkout over sickness absence, pay and staffing at BA. | |
| Mr Walsh said: "We are pleased that our negotiations with the T&G have resulted in an agreement that removes the threat of strikes. | |
| "We have always said that our cabin crew do an excellent job and we believe this agreement lays a firm foundation to enable us to provide even higher standards of onboard service for customers in the future." | |
| He added: "Unfortunately, the decision has come too late to prevent disruption to the travel plans of tens of thousands of our customers tomorrow and Wednesday." | |
| Sickness issue | |
| Out of the airline's 14,000 cabin crew, about 11,000 are members of the T&G - 96% of whom voted for strike action. | |
| They had complained that a new regime on sickness pay, introduced 18 months ago, meant they were forced to work when they were ill. | |
| HAVE YOUR SAY We have just been forced to cut our holiday short by the total chaos caused by this Simon, Harrow Send us your comments Profile: Willie Walsh | |
| The union claimed that some cabin crew lived in fear of calling in sick. | |
| BA said the main part of the new regime simply involved staff having a conversation with their manager when they return to work following sick leave. | |
| It insisted the measures were needed to cut high levels of sickness absence, which it calculated have come down from 22 days per staff member to 12 days since the new rules were brought in. | |
| Starter pay rates for crew members, overall pay grading and promotion opportunities were also subject to dispute. | |
| The union also wanted the introduction of a single pay arrangement for cabin crew staff, rather than the existing two tier system, with staff who joined after 1997 being paid less than those employed before that date. |