Unite to wage legal war on BA in courts
TRADE union Unite is preparing to wage a legal war on British Airways (BA) as the fight between the two gets set to hit the courts once again.
Unite is to launch a legal battle at the High Court this week over the removal of travel perks for up to 7,000 cabin crew who went on strike for 22 days this year at a cost to BA of £150m.
The dispute over travel perks, which include heavily discounted fares, are a bitter point of
dispute between BA and Unite.
A date has not been set for the appearance but Unite said it is expected before the end of the week.
A Unite spokesperson said: “We are being forced to defend our members and their rights to just treatment in the court room because BA refuses to play fairly at the negotiating table.”
In a similar move, Unite will come head to head with the British flag-carrier in the Court of Appeal on 11 and 12 October, over claims that BA’s reduction of crew numbers on long-haul flights was a breach of contract.
Unite took BA to the High Court earlier this year over the disagreement, but the court
threw out the dispute and ruled in BA’s favour.
“The ruling found that the modest changes to onboard crew numbers on flights from Heathrow were reasonable, did not breach crew contracts and could therefore remain in
place. We will defend our position vigorously,” said BA.
Unite will also head to the European Court of Human Rights by the end of this month to challenge the UK government’s interpretation of ballots held for industrial action.
FAST FACTS | UNITE LEGAL ACTION
This week: Unite takes BA to High Court.
This month: Unite heads to the European Court of Human Rights over UK balloting laws.
Next month: Unite takes BA to Court of Appeal.