Virgin Atlantic cabin crew staff are being balloted today (3 December) on whether or not to take strike action.
More than 3,000 Virgin crew belonging to the Unite union are being asked their opinion on any walk out, concerning a dispute that Unite says sees the carrier”s cabin personnel earn up ”10,000 less than rival British Airways (BA).
The ballot process is due to last until 20 December, with the Union recommending that members take industrial action in what it says is ”an effort to break the deadlock.”
Unite national officer for aviation Brian Boyd, insisted that any Virgin pay offer should reflect working for the prestigious carrier. ”At the moment, Virgin Atlantic”s cabin crew earnings are far less than their comparators on the main business routes at BA and clearly this is no longer acceptable to our members.
”Unite has done everything it can to avoid this situation, but we have been left with no alternative but to ballot for strike action an effort to get the company to recognise our members” contribution to the company”s continued success.”
Some 1,200 Virgin crew members out of a total of 5,000, recently rejected a Virgin two-year pay offer, which amounted to around an 8.3% increase to basic pay.
There appears to be some discrepancy in views however. Unite is saying today that it is recommending industrial action, but Virgin insists that the union previously ”strongly recommended this pay offer,” as Virgin COO Lyell Strambi, said:
”Unite strongly recommended this pay offer to its members, because it is a very good deal, especially given the challenging environment we operate in.
”We have been told by Unite that it is the best to be offered by an airline this year. Our cabin crew have also benefited from pay increases of between 20% and 30% during the past four years.”
In the event of any industrial action being approved, the union will have 28 days to take action and has, by law, to give seven days notice of strike action to the company.