British Airways Seeks to Train new Cabin Crew Staff from Within

In a scheme that will almost surely isolate the firm from the Unite union even further, British Airways has begun asking non-cabin crew staff if they would be interested in switching over to cabin crew positions by completing a short course on the subject.

The scheme is designed to anticipate the looming industrial action from the cabin crew and its union, Unite, which will vote on a ballot this week. The union lashed out at the idea, saying the airline will be putting passengers and crew at risk by employing staff not adequately trained in cabin crew positions.
However, the airline is being backed by the Civil Aviation Authority, who has approved the plan to continue. British Airways has announced that they put the offer out to all of its staff members and they will be allowed to train in order to alleviate any shortages arising from the strike.

The vote on the strike ballot will be held this week, after a previous ballot proposing a strike over the holidays was thrown out by a High Court for allowing redundant employees of the airline to vote on industrial action. The strike is in opposition to the cut backs being made of cabin crew positions in the wake of a fiscally disastrous year for the airline.

British Airways announced last week that cabin crew which participate in any industrial action will lose their travel benefits. These benefits include flights to anywhere on the BA network for employees and discounted tickets for family members. The Unite union and BA have had an icy relationship and talks to resolve the issue have stalled causing the strike ballot to be drawn up.