Talks between British Airways, cabin crew to avert strike end with no agreement

Talks between BA, cabin crew reach no agreement

LONDON — Talks between British Airways and a cabin crew union aimed at averting a strike have broken down with no agreement, the airline said Wednesday, again raising the possibility of a walkout by thousands of employees.

Officials at the Unite union said no further talks were planned. A BA spokesman said the company remains available for negotiations about the long-running dispute over pay, job security and working conditions.

“Despite a prolonged period of negotiations it has not been possible to reach agreement between BA and Unite,” the union’s general secretary Brendan Barber said.

The union will now have to decide whether to call strikes. Cabin crew voted last month in favor of authorizing a walkout. The union has said it would not disrupt the busy Easter holiday period.

BA’s management and workers are locked in a bitter dispute that resulted in a narrowly averted Christmas strike that threatened to cripple the airline last year.

The union had taken its demand to overturn cost-cutting changes introduced by the airline to the courts. It argued that the cuts — including a pay freeze this year, a switch to part-time work for some staff and a reduction in cabin crew numbers on long-haul flights — breached BA’s contracts with staff because the airline did not properly consult with them before imposing the changes in November.

But the High Court sided with BA, which has long argued the changes were necessary to counter falling demand for air travel after the global financial crisis.