Help power Marketplace this winter when you support the show today. Donate Now!

British Airways flight attendants strike against cut travel perks

Stephen Beard May 24, 2010
HTML EMBED:
COPY

British Airways flight attendants strike against cut travel perks

Stephen Beard May 24, 2010
HTML EMBED:
COPY

British Airways flight attendants began a strike today in response to the carrier’s move to freeze pay and change conditions for staff.

BA is cutting costs and trying to improve its productivity to counter a loss of $1.5 billion, and is minimizing the strike by putting ground staff to work temporarily as flight attendants, albeit with a more limited scope of services provided.

Aviation consultant Laurie Price is praising their tough stance. “You can’t have an airline that’s losing this amount of money and facing the levels of competition without doing something. I’m afraid the laws of finance and economics apply to the air travel industry.”

BA says they would restore the travel perks if there’s a deal with the strikers, but only partially — a move the workers’ union condemns as some attendants live very far from London — and even as far as France — and need the travel perk to get to work.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.