BA Pilots Strike

With 93% of British Airways pilots voting in favour of strike action, Industrial Relations issues continue to plague the Airline. There is a real conflict between cost control, demand on wages and competition across the airline industry.

Andy Cook remarked “with such a high number of pilots voting in favour of strike action, this is not just about pay, there must be other underlying issues that are affecting the relationship between employer and employees”.

Cook continues “cynically, we might look at this situation as another union making another threat of strike in the peak summer period; which seems to be a well-trodden path of the threat to disrupt summer holidays. The summer for any transport related business is always crucial and so the threat of Industrial Action at this time will put more pressure on management to give in”.

“Often, pay is only one of a number of issues behind a dispute. Its not uncommon to find employees are unhappy with the way they are managed or treated and therefore feel disengaged from their organisation; and that is more dangerous than a straightforward pay dispute because money does not necessarily solve those wider relationship issues”.

Ends