London: British Airways cabin crew will walk out for seven days this month after talks between the airline and unions broke down, in a dispute analysts said could cost the airline around £140 million.
The Unite union said on Friday its members would strike for three days from March 20 and for four days from March 27, while BA removed a formal offer made to staff on Thursday and conditional on Unite not naming any strike dates.
"Because strike dates have been announced, Unite has invalidated the offer. It is no longer on the table," BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh said.
Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey said BA management wanted to "destroy trade unionism among its employees."
Cabin crew will not strike over the Easter holidays across the first week of April, but Unite said if no deal was reached more strikes could be called after Easter and beyond.
"Unite has warned there could be further action after April 14 if a resolution has not been agreed," said Guy Lamb, an employment lawyer at law firm DLA Piper.
"The terms of the ballot allows Unite to take further action at any time as long as it relates to the same dispute, so unless a resolution is reached, we could see further disruption in the coming months and even into the summer."
BA said Unite's proposals to save the airline money fell "significantly short" of helping it reach its £60 million cost-saving target and would leave crew much worse off.
BA shares, which have risen a quarter so far this year, were 2 percent higher at 235.3 pence by 1:30 p.m.
"The strike could still be averted. Lufthansa had a one day strike last month but sorted it out, which shows what can be done," said Davy Stockbrokers analyst Stephen Furlong.
"This will probably cost BA something in the region of £20 million a day but maybe less since they have some contingency plans in place," said Furlong.
BA has trained staff from other areas of the company to fill-in as cabin crew during the strike and has said it will hire 23 fully-crewed planes from charter companies to help run flights from Heathrow.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged BA and Unite to resume talks to avoid a strike. "I hope they will do so (resume talks) but I remind them of the danger and risk to the British economy of disruptive strikes going ahead," Brown told a news conference on Friday.
BA's Walsh has said the airline must move away from its old, inefficient ways if long-term survival is to be ensured, and that changes at the airline, which analysts believe is losing around £1.5 million a day, are essential to help repair its precarious finances.
"This strike is getting no sympathy from customers and is eroding loyalty for BA's brand and driving passengers to rivals at a time when the airline is facing record annual losses," said Bob Atkinson, a manager at travelsupermarket.com.
Gavin Halliday, BA's European head, said the strike threat had not hit bookings too badly and that the impact on earnings was likely "not disastrous."
The union's 13,000 cabin crew members have twice voted for industrial action as part of a dispute over job losses and changes to working practices, but a 12-day Christmas strike was halted following a legal challenge from BA.
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