Talks Fail To End Threat Of Strike Action

Intense talks yesterday (Thursday) have failed to end the threat of strikes at all BAA Airports in January. Currently no further talks are set to take place however this may change as time passes.

The union Unite which is representing the workers at BAA Airports met with BAA bosses yesterday however the talks remained a stalemate and no progress was made.

The dispute is based around the closure of BAA's final salary pension scheme for new entrants. The union Unite has stated that this will have to be re-instated but was willing to discuss the terms of the pension scheme. BAA have responded by saying that current BAA employees are not affected by this and believe the strike to be unecessary.

When asked for their reaction on the stalemate BAA had the following to say, 'BAA is disappointed that today's talks have not succeeded in resolving this dispute. As we have said throughout we believe the threat of industrial action is unnecessary because we have guaranteed that existing workers will not be affected by the change to the pension scheme.'

Many in the airline industry believe that the strike will not be allowed to occur by BAA and that they may settle. One source was quoted as saying 'BAA can't allow a strike to go ahead. It would be chaotic. A deal will be struck. But it may go to the wire.' Only time will tell but meanwhile many thousands of passengers are bracing themselves for what will be potentially a very difficult time at BAA Airports in January 2008.

For more information please visit The Independent

Published by: Jon Vickery