BA talks resume as time runs out (From Croydon Guardian)

BA talks resume as time runs out

3:35am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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Talks to avert a damaging strike by British Airways cabin crew are resuming as time runs out on efforts to break a deadlocked row over cost-cutting.

The airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, and the Unite union's joint leader, Tony Woodley, spent Thursday locked in delicate discussions at the TUC headquarters in London.

They broke up just after midnight and both sides will get back together on Friday morning.

BA cabin crew are due to walk out for three days from Saturday, causing chaos for thousands of passengers. A four-day stoppage has been penned in from March 27.

As he left the talks, Mr Walsh declined to reveal how fruitful the discussions had been, saying only that they would resume.

Mr Woodley stressed that while talks are continuing there is some hope, and he again appealed to the airline to put back on the table an offer it withdrew last week.

But his union is planning to hold a mass meeting of cabin crew at Sandown Park racecourse in Surrey on Friday to rally the workers ahead of the strike.

Even if a last minute deal is agreed, it will be too late to reinstate the flights already cancelled by BA.

The airline is believed to have already lost more than £25 million in cancelled tickets and contingency plans.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has urged both sides to reach a solution that would avoid strike action, which he described as "needless" and "quite disproportionate" to the issues under dispute.