By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - The British government is to intervene in a long-running dispute between British Airways cabin crew and management in a bid to avert up to 20 days of planned strikes over the next four weeks.
Industrial action by members of the Unite union, which represents about 90 percent of BA's 12,000 cabin crew, begins with a five-day walkout starting on May 18, threatening more misery for travellers already hit by walkouts and disruption caused by volcanic ash.
'The secretary of state will be meeting both sides in this dispute separately next week,' a spokeswoman for Transport Minister Philip Hammond said on Saturday.
Conciliation service ACAS later said the two sides had agreed to hold talks on Monday in a bid to avert the strikes.
BA, which stopped a December strike through the courts, said on Friday it had applied for a High Court injunction to prevent the May strikes, after finding an irregularity in how the union had conducted the ballot to strike. A similar move was used to block a rail strike earlier this year.
The industrial action follows seven days of walkouts in March which cost the airline 45 million pounds ($65.61 million).
The strikes are part of a long-running disagreement over pay and conditions that stems from BA plans to save 62.5 million pounds a year to counter falling demand, volatile fuel prices and greater competition. ($1=.6859 Pound) Keywords: BA STRIKE/GOVERNMENT (kylie.maclellan@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 0401) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - The British government is to intervene in a long-running dispute between British Airways cabin crew and management in a bid to avert up to 20 days of planned strikes over the next four weeks.
Industrial action by members of the Unite union, which represents about 90 percent of BA's 12,000 cabin crew, begins with a five-day walkout starting on May 18, threatening more misery for travellers already hit by walkouts and disruption caused by volcanic ash.
'The secretary of state will be meeting both sides in this dispute separately next week,' a spokeswoman for Transport Minister Philip Hammond said on Saturday.
Conciliation service ACAS later said the two sides had agreed to hold talks on Monday in a bid to avert the strikes.
BA, which stopped a December strike through the courts, said on Friday it had applied for a High Court injunction to prevent the May strikes, after finding an irregularity in how the union had conducted the ballot to strike. A similar move was used to block a rail strike earlier this year.
The industrial action follows seven days of walkouts in March which cost the airline 45 million pounds ($65.61 million).
The strikes are part of a long-running disagreement over pay and conditions that stems from BA plans to save 62.5 million pounds a year to counter falling demand, volatile fuel prices and greater competition. ($1=.6859 Pound) Keywords: BA STRIKE/GOVERNMENT (kylie.maclellan@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 0401) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.