BA pilots’ pay deal is fair, says airline’s boss
The chief of British Airways-owner IAG has said a pay deal being given to its pilot is ‘fair’ adding that he is confident strikes can be averted this summer.
On Friday, with the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) British Airways will re-enter talks. Over three years, Members of Balpa have rejected an offer of an 11.5% wage increase.
Willie Walsh, IAG boss told, ‘I think the pay contract that has been offered is a good deal.’
BA lost a lawful battle at the Court of Appeal for stopping strike action after it filed an injunction, earlier this week. For Balpa members, the ruling cleared the way, potentially over the hectic August period.
Mr. Walsh also told that he was confident a deal can be reached with union representatives. He also said, ‘Obviously this is a matter for British Airways to deal with. No one wants the ambiguity that strike action delivers to the business.’ ‘We are working closely with the union of pilots. With them, Representatives of British Airways met all day yesterday and will also meet all day today.’
Though, he pointed to that the present pay offer – which has been accepted by GMB and unions Unite was not likely to change.
‘In BA British Airways has a liability to all of its employees, I have a responsibility to all the workers right across the group, and I consider the pay deal that has been offered is a fair agreement.’
Data breach
On Friday, the results published IAG said BA would ‘strongly defend itself’ against a record £183m charge imposed by the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) following the main data breach last year.
BA was penalized after it has been come out that users of its website were diverted to a fake site where data from about 500,000 patrons were harvested by hackers. For the first half of the year, it was reported by IAG a 7.2% increase in sales to €12bn (£10.9bn) whereas pre-tax profits dropped to €1bn from €1.6bn. Moreover, in early stock market trading, shares in IAG increased by 3.4%.
