BA reaches agreement on absence management and pay

British Airways has agreed to make changes to its cabin crew’s sickness absence management system, and pay increase.

Exact details of the settlement, which has brought a week of negotiations between members of the Transport & General Workers’ (T&G) Union and the airline’s management to an end, have yet to be announced. The new absence management system, however, has been declared to be much fairer by Tony Woodley, T&G general secretary. The deal has also ended the threat of strike action by staff.

Referring to the company’s previous†two-tier wage structure whereby new recruits receive a lower salary, Woodley said: “There have been major moves in pay to end the divisive, unfair two-tier workforce.” He also mentioned that there will be, “a significant uplift in pensionable pay of 18.75% and an above inflation 4.6% wage rise effective immediately.” The full details of the package will be put to union members by their committee in the next few days.

‘These were the major issues of concern for our members and they have been dealt with through these negotiations. Their committee has taken the view that this package would not be improved in any shape or form, irrespective of strike action,” added Woodley.

While BA has welcomed the decision of the cabin crew branch of the T&G, it does not foresee an end to the expected disruption over the next few days, during which†BA has cancelled 1,300 flights from Heathrow and Gatwick. Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, said: “Unfortunately, the decision has come too late to prevent disruption to the travel plans of ten of thousands of our customers tomorrow and Wednesday. We will endeavour to reinstate as many flights as we can for those days.”