BA cabin crew union Unite has decided to open its latest members' ballot today in spite of the disruption at UK airports
Voting papers have been sent to more than 10,000 cabin crew members at BA. The results will be announced in January.
A British Airways spokeswoman said industrial action would be a “grossly disproportionate” response to the issues that Unite continues to press.
Tony Woodley, Unite joint general secretary, said Unite had “made every effort in prolonged negotiations” to find a resolution to the outstanding problems.
“Sadly… we must now conduct a fresh ballot in order to defend our members,” he said.
Unite is thought to have reneged on a deal in October and BA said the union has refused to hold further talks, instead issuing a strike ballot.
“[Unite] continues to be driven by internal divisions and its behaviour remains dysfunctional,” said the BA spokeswoman.
“We have put forward very fair proposals that enable our existing Heathrow crew to remain the best rewarded in the UK airline industry. Despite the difficult economic conditions we have faced, we have made savings in ways that have avoided compulsory redundancies.”
Unite has warned that the dispute with BA, now more than a year old, is deepening.
The union is concerned that an anti-union campaign is underway at the airline and is worried about punishments imposed on crew and a new tier of crew introduced on poorer terms.
Woodley said: "When this dispute started, the issue was making savings to help the company through a very difficult period for the industry.
“The dispute has been prolonged by vindictive measures directed against cabin crew - in recent months, BA has put nearly 70 loyal workers through hell and sacked 13 of them because they supported their union. This is surely unprecedented in modern day British corporate life.”
If a strike does take place, BA has pledged operate normal timetables at Gatwick and London City airports, while at Heathrow it will aim to run a “substantial proportion” of short-haul flights and 100% of long haul.