BA strike ballot result awaited as Iberia merger completed
The result of a ballot of British Airways cabin crew for fresh strikes in their long-running dispute with the airline will be announced today, as the company completes its merger with Spanish carrier Iberia.
Members of Unite are expected to vote strongly in favour of more industrial action over the deadlocked row, which sparked a wave of walkouts last year costing BA over £150m (€176m).
Unite’s new leader Len McCluskey said he hoped BA would take note of the ballot result and try again to resolve the bitter dispute, which started more than a year ago over cost-cutting but now centres on the removal of travel concessions for workers who went on strike, and disciplinary action taken against Unite members.
Speaking after a mass meeting of over 1,000 cabin crew last week, Mr McCluskey said: “If the company believes they have broken the spirit of the cabin crew, they should have been at this meeting to witness the anger of people.”
The union will have to give seven days notice of any strikes.
Meanwhile, BA’s merger with Iberia will be completed today and shares in the new holding company, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), will be listed on stockmarkets in London and Madrid on Monday morning.
The completion of the merger comes nearly 24 years after BA joined the London stockmarket in a high profile flotation that was 11-times oversubscribed.
BA and Iberia will retain their brands as part of the initiative that is expected to save 400 million euro (£337.3 million) a year by its fifth year.
The new airline group will have 419 aircraft flying to 205 destinations and will be Europe’s second biggest airline by market value after Lufthansa.
BA will also benefit through Iberia’s strong presence in south America, where BA operates only a handful of routes.
Willie Walsh will step down as chief executive of BA to take up the same role at IAG in a move that will see his basic pay increase 12% from £735,000 (€864,000) to £825,000 (€970,000) a year.
