BA and union agree to end dispute

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British Airways and the Unite union have reached an agreement to settle their long-running industrial dispute.

As part of the deal BA has agreed to restore travel concessions to staff who went on strike and to award some lower-paid employees top-up payments.

Both issues were at the centre of the bitter dispute which has lasted for almost two years and involved 22 days of strikes.

The agreement will now be put to a ballot of about 10,000 union members.

In a statement Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “We always said that this dispute could only be settled by negotiation, not by confrontation or litigation. And so it has proved.

“I am particularly pleased that travel concessions will be restored,” he said.

BA said: “On behalf of our customers, we are very pleased the threat of industrial action has been lifted and that we have reached a point where we can put this dispute behind us.

“Our agreement with Unite involves acknowledgement by the union that the cost-saving structural changes we have made in cabin crew operations are permanent.

“We have also agreed changes that will modernise our crew industrial relations and help ensure that this kind of dispute cannot occur again,” the airline said.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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