Striking British Airways staff denies Walsh claims of success

Amid the Conservative Party’s allegations that Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been weak in the face of the ongoing industrial dispute, Unite union leaders have slammed claims by British Airways chief Willie Walsh that the airline is successfully managing through the strike.

Unite has refuted the statements of Walsh that more British Airways cabin crew had returned to the workplace, claiming this was blatant distortion by the airline head. The union has also suggested that further action was probable unless an agreement can be reached quickly.

According to figures put forward by Unite, 331 members of the cabin crew team had confirmed they were still on strike, with over half of the rostered staff yesterday failing to show for work. The group called British Airway’s management claims that most of the cabin crew have returned to work as a massive distortion, arguing that closer to 15 per cent were actually working. Around 359 staff turned up to work today, which included around 100 non-striking international employees.

Airline management had earlier reported that it was coping with this week’s action far better than it had done in the previous week, with long-haul flights receiving the necessary staffing resources to keep them operational. Chief Executive Willie Walsh has continually claimed that the forecasted 60 per cent threshold of staffing numbers were reporting for duty, with the 63 per cent total on Saturday being a six per cent rise from the previous weekend. Unite, however, said that the airline was still using rival carrier’s craft to meet European schedules and that very few bags were loaded onto British Airways planes in the past days.