BA cabin crew vote on strike deal

The 12,000 British Airways cabin crew who belong to the Unite union have begun voting on the latest offer from management to resolve their dispute.

Details of the offer are not known, but the union has urged members to reject it, accusing BA of "victimising" those who took strike action in March.

Since then, 50 crew members have been suspended and four dismissed.

At issue are BA's cost-cutting plans, which include reducing the number of cabin crew on long-haul flights.

The union and the airline's management have been talking for a number of months and an agreement has not been reached, causing massive disruption to passengers and costing the airline millions of pounds.

"This plan aims to treat loyal employees and trade unionists as permanent second-class citizens, branded for having supported the union and humiliated for having taken democratically-endorsed and fully-legal strike action," said Unite Joint General Secretary, Tony Woodley.

The union said balloting would end on 7 May, the day after the general election, but it has not announced any further strike dates.

British Airways said Unite was "showing callous disregard for our customers and our business".