12-Day Strike Will Ground British Airways

10-day walkout by cabin crew over staffing to cost airline $500M
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 14, 2009 2:40 PM CST
12-Day Strike Will Ground British Airways
British Airways cabin crew, walking away.   (AP Photo)

Passengers of struggling British Airways will be struggling themselves this holiday season if a strike by cabin crews announced today goes forward. Should labor and management not reach a deal, the job action would ground flights between Dec. 22 and Jan. 2. The walkout by 12,500 workers over staffing and budgets would affect around 910,000 travelers and cost the cash-strapped airline almost $500 million.

Details of the proposed strike, approved yesterday, come as BA announced a pension fund deficit of $6 billion, but the airline says the two are unrelated. “The pension scheme is not an issue that is part of the ballot,” a spokeswoman tells the Guardian. “Once we had reached an agreement with the pension trustees, we had to release it to the market.” (More British Airways strike stories.)

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