British Airways legal battle begins

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The union representing the cabin crew staff of British Airways PLC is taking the airline back to court on Tuesday in a bid to overturn changes to their pay and working conditions that sparked an acrimonious dispute.The Unite union is seeking a permanent injunction in the High Court that would scrap the changes imposed in November, which BA argues are necessary to ride out its dire financial situation.

Unite claims it was not properly consulted on the changes, which include a pay freeze this year, a switch to part-time working for some staff and a reduction in cabin crew numbers from 15 to 14 on long-haul flights.

The union failed in its previous application for a court injunction late last year, and was subsequently ordered by the courts to call off a planned strike over the Christmas and New Year holidays because of balloting irregularities.

It is currently holding another strike ballot of its 13,000 members. The poll closes on Feb. 22, and a walkout could be scheduled for as soon as a week after that date.

BA, Europe’s third largest airline, found itself heavily exposed to the global recession because of its heavy running costs and reliance on increasingly unpopular premium fares. It is expected to report a quarterly and full year loss later this week.

The airline argues that it is entitled unilaterally to reduce cabin crew numbers aboard its Worldwide and Eurofleet flights since these are not terms of individual cabin crew members’ contracts.

But Unite said that the crew numbers were fixed by collective agreements with the unions and were “expressly incorporated” into individual contracts.

The High Court hearing in London before Justice Christopher Holland is expected to last five days and finish on Friday, the day of BA’s next earnings report.

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