British Airways cabin crews joined rail workers and Post Office staff in threatening strikes last night in what was described as a ‘co-ordinated attempt to inflict misery at Christmas’.
The giant Unite union said BA cabin crew had voted overwhelmingly to strike over pay, with walkouts potentially starting as soon as December 21.
The move threatens to wreck the holiday plans of thousands of families.
Post Office workers are planning five days of strikes starting next week. And rail workers on the troubled Southern network inflicted another day of misery on hundreds of thousands of travellers yesterday.
In the Commons, Theresa May rounded on Jeremy Corbyn over the ‘appalling’ strikes on Southern Rail – and urged the Labour leader to tell his union cronies to back down. And, as the Unite union threatened walkouts at BA, senior Tories demanded emergency legislation to tackle what one MP called a ‘co-ordinated attempt to inflict misery at Christmas’.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling floated the idea this week of a total ban on rail strikes. But ministers are also considering alternative plans that could require unions on key services to prove their action was ‘proportionate’ – and force them to operate at least a 50 per cent service.
Welfare minister Penny Mordaunt said the situation at Southern, where commuters have suffered months of misery, was so serious that ministers may have to take extra action.
‘Something needs to be done,’ she said. ‘The public have had enough.’
Tory MP Chris Philp, who has held talks with Mr Grayling this week on possible union reforms, said: ‘I am not sure it is a coincidence that we are getting all these strikes in the run-up to Christmas. It is starting to look like it is co-ordinated by Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-Left union allies.
‘The RMT and Aslef have massively overstepped the mark and unfortunately that means the Government has to legislate. Other countries, such as Italy and Canada, already have laws requiring unions to show that strikes on critical infrastructure are proportionate.
‘In the case of the Southern strike, no-one is losing their jobs and there are no safety issues – it’s a dispute about who presses a button to shut the doors. For that, they are inflicting misery on 300,000 passengers, and I don’t think any court would consider that to be proportionate.’
Former justice minister Dominic Raab added: ‘Targeting strike action to inflict misery at this time of year is deeply irresponsible and cynical on the part of union bosses. The Government is right to keep its options open and resist this licensed blackmail.’
In the Commons, the Prime Minister rounded on Mr Corbyn over his close links to the RMT and Aslef rail unions behind the Southern dispute.
Both unions have bankrolled Mr Corbyn’s regime, as has Unite.
Both unions have bankrolled Mr Corbyn’s regime, as has Unite.
Branding the strikes ‘appalling’, Mrs May said: I’ve got a suggestion for the Leader of the Opposition – I think the Leader of the Opposition could do something to help members of the public.
‘The Labour Party is funded by Aslef. Why doesn’t he get on the phone and tell them to call the strike off immediately?’
But despite the chaos on the railways, Labour confirmed it was supporting the strikes. Asked if he backed the unions involved in the Southern dispute, shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald replied: ‘Absolutely.’ Mr McDonald, who has praised the ‘guts’ of striking railway staff, claimed there were ‘critical safety issues’ around driver-only trains, despite the fact they have been used on the rail network for years.
Unite said its members had overwhelmingly backed the BA walkouts in a dispute over pay involving around 2,500 workers.
Union representatives will meet over the next two days to decide what action to take, with a strike possible at any date from December 21.
But there are fears the union will orchestrate strikes to cause maximum disruption for those planning to fly abroad to spend Christmas with friends and family. The pay dispute involves ‘mixed fleet’ cabin crew – who fly a combination of short-haul and long-haul – and who have joined the airline since 2010.
Unite claims they earn less than other staff. It said earnings were advertised between £21,000 and £25,000 but in reality started at just over £12,000 plus £3 an hour flying pay.
Members voted to strike after rejecting a 2 per cent pay offer on what Unite has described as ‘poverty pay’ levels. It said crew had been forced to resort to moonlighting in other jobs or sleeping in their cars between shifts to survive. Unite’s regional officer Matt Smith said crew members were ‘at breaking point’.
He said: ‘Mixed fleet crew earn just over the minimum wage and below the national average. Significant numbers of crew are taking on second jobs, and many go to work unfit to fly because they can’t afford to be sick. British Airways bosses need to wake up to the anger and the injustice here.’
BA said it had made an offer that would lead to basic pay and hourly duty rates increasing by a minimum of 7 per cent.
A spokesman said: ‘We are extremely disappointed that the union is creating uncertainty for our customers.’
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