British Airways strike to go ahead as last-minute talks collapse

Talks aimed at averting strikes by British Airways cabin crew collapsed today and the action will go ahead from midnight.

Officials from the Unite union have been locked in talks with the airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, this week in a bid to find a breakthrough in a bitter row over cost-cutting.

Unite's joint leader, Tony Woodley, said he was "extremely disappointed" that the efforts to head off a three-day strike from tomorrow had failed and accused BA of wanting a "war" with the union.

Mr Woodley emerged from five hours of talks with Mr Walsh at the TUC headquarters in London today to say that "hawks" on the BA board had won the day.

He said BA had tabled a worse offer than one withdrawn last week after the union announced this weekend's strike, and another four- day walkout from March 27.

"I am extremely disappointed for the travelling public and our members, but this union will now support our members, while remaining open for talks with the company.

"It is with great disappointment that I have to say the strike will go ahead. It is an absolute disgrace and an insult to our people that he (Mr Walsh) tabled a deal that reduced the amount of pay on offer.

"It is ridiculous to expect anyone to go to their membership with a worse offer."

Mr Walsh left the TUC a few minutes after Mr Woodley, describing the industrial action as "completely unjustified".

"It is deeply regrettable that a proposal I have tabled to Unite, which I believe is fair and sensible and addresses all the concerns of cabin crew, has not been accepted.

"The offer remains available, but it will be withdrawn once industrial action commences.

"Tens of thousands of BA people now stand ready to serve our customers. BA will be flying tomorrow and will continue to fly through these periods of industrial action.

"I remain available to talk, but our business must make changes. I am disappointed that the union have not been able to accept our sensible proposals."

Mr Walsh agreed that the new deal tabled in the current round of talks was not the same as the one withdrawn last week, arguing that BA had incurred "significant" extra expense because of the cost of its contingency plans and the number of passengers who have cancelled flights.

The financial value of the new offer was not as attractive as the previous one because BA had to recover the money it had lost.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said: "It is disappointing that the talks have broken down. This strike is in no-one's interests and will cause major inconvenience to passengers.

"Clearly, passengers travelling in the next few days will need to check with BA on the status of their flights. I continue to urge both sides to find a negotiated settlement."

Mr Walsh said he had given assurances to Unite about the airline's plans for pay and conditions of crew on new flights which he believed would have been accepted it it had been put to a ballot.

He confirmed that workers who joined the strike will lose their travel perks, which include flights at vastly reduced cost.

"That was an adult statement made to adult employees. We said we will not continue to provide perks to people who are prepared to inflict damage to our business."

Mr Walsh said BA would now put in place its "extensive" contingency plans, which include the use of 23 fully crewed planes leased from other companies.

"I am satisfied that our contingency plans are robust. We are very confident that we will continue to fly our customers in comfort."

Mr Walsh said it was "absolute nonsense" that he wanted to break the union, pointing out that he had been at the TUC for the past three days trying to agree a deal with Mr Woodley.

"We have spent 13 months in negotiations with the union. BA has been at the table, ready, willing and able to negotiate. If people want a scapegoat, they will have to look somewhere else."

BA said in a statement: "We are very disappointed that, despite lengthy negotiations, Unite has rejected the chance of a settlement and resolved that its strikes should go ahead.

"We are confident our cabin crew would accept our latest offer if Unite put it to them. In recent days, we have shown considerable flexibility in the interests of protecting customers from the effects of this completely unjustified industrial action.

"We have put forward proposals that would secure long-term pay protection for all existing crew, new opportunities for crew at Gatwick and modernisation of our industrial relations framework.

"Despite the recognition by the High Court that our changes to onboard crew numbers were valid and reasonable, we have also been prepared to make some modification to these changes to allow Unite to call off the strikes.

"It is a great pity that Unite continues to show such disregard for the interests of our customers and our business - and for public opinion at large.

"We will continue to strengthen our contingency plans to ensure that as many customers as possible can fly to their destinations during the strike period.

"We know that many cabin crew will work normally in the days ahead, and we look forward to their contribution - and that of tens of thousands of colleagues across the airline - as we keep our customers and our aircraft flying."