**The Unite union is appealing to the board of British Airways to try and resolve the increasingly bitter dispute between the airline and its cabin crew.**Joint general secretary Tony Woodley wrote in a letter to union members that he would ask the board to “take matters in hand and restart negotiations”.
These talks would aim to avert next weekend’s planned strikes, he said.
Cabin crew are into the second day of a three-day strike. They also plan to strike for four days from 27 March.
Commentators suggested that Unite’s appeal would have little effect, as BA’s board would have given its backing to the airline’s current negotiating position.
Despite Mr Woodley’s call for negotiations, the BBC has learned that neither Unite nor BA has been in touch with the head of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) over the weekend.
The TUC had been brokering peace talks between the two sides before the strike began on Saturday.
In his letter to union members, Mr Woodley told crew to “stay strong… BA must understand that capitulation is not on the menu”.
Unite has accused BA of intimidating and bullying crew, allegations that BA “utterly rejects”.
Extra flights
On the second day of action, both sides of the dispute disagreed about how effective the strike has been.
Unite said half of BA’s 250 planes had been grounded on the first day of the three-day stoppage.
The union said BA’s Terminal 5 at Heathrow was like a “ghost town” and argued that the airline’s contingency plans were failing passengers.
But BA said it had managed not only to fly all those services scheduled during the strike, but also to reinstate a number of flights as more staff had turned up to work than expected.
The airline said it was reinstating eight cancelled long-haul flights from Heathrow, as well as 18 short-haul services from Heathrow and Gatwick this weekend.
The company is advising customers to check the BA website to find out what extra flights will now be operating.
Lower pay
BA has been in negotiations with Unite for many months.
Workers are particularly angry that last November BA reduced the number of crew on long-haul flights and is introducing a two-year pay freeze from 2010.
The airline also proposed new contracts with lower pay for fresh recruits.
Unite says it accepts the need for BA to cut costs but that it was not consulted on the changes.
BA suffered a loss before tax of £342m for the nine months to the end of December 2009 and says it needs to cut costs in order to survive.
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