British Airways (BA) said Tuesday it may be facing several strikes this summer as staff backed industrial action following a pay dispute.
Trade union Unite, which represents 16,000 BA employees, won a 97% vast majority in a ballot for possible industrial action after claiming the airline restored managers’ pay to pre-Covid levels but still had not reversed the 10% pay cut issued to standard workers.
Unite also insisted thousands of staff were dismissed and not replaced, which partly caused staff shortages in recent months.
Britian'ssecond-largest union said: "Two years of job and pay cuts mean that BA customers and staff are unfortunately paying the price through sky-high ticket prices, rock bottom service levels and non-existent morale.
"Staff are simply no longer willing to excuse, or pay the price for, poor management decisions."
Unite added that 500 check-in staff will be balloted for strikes, which may be staged in July when demand is anticipated to soar.
BA claimed the industrial action threat was based on a misunderstanding that was sorted out as soon as it come to fruition.
It said it thought there was a prior pay rise that ground handlers missed, so it made the offer to compensate them and then realised it was erroneous, the Telegraph reported.
"After a deeply difficult two years which saw the business lose more than £4bn, we still offered payments to our colleagues for this year. We remain committed to open and honest talks with our trade unions about their concerns," a BA spokesman said.
This came a day after unions warned of six days of strike action in late June and in July by Ryanair's Spanish cabin staff, which may disrupt UK flights.
British Airways, which is owned by International Consolidated Airlines, known as IAG, has already cancelled hundreds of flights this year due to staff shortages.