British Airways and Unite in last-ditch peace talks to avert cabin crew strike

British Airways and Unite union officials are in peace talks on Monday (19 December) in a bid to avert a strike from cabin crew members over Christmas.

The workers are planning to walkout on 25 and 26 December in a dispute over pay and conditions.

A spokesperson for mitigation service Acas said on Sunday: "We can confirm that BA and Unite have accepted our invitation to attend conciliation talks in respect of the cabin crew dispute tomorrow morning."

A BA spokesperson said: "We are pleased that Unite are willing to meet us at Acas. We remain focused on resolving this as quickly as possible for our customers."

The planned action is just one of many strikes over the festive period. More than 1,500 check-in staff, baggage handlers and cargo crew, are threatening to walkout for 48 hours at from 23 December.

The protest is part of a long-running row between Unite and Swissport over pay and work conditions. An Acas spokesperson said the parties were in talks from Tuesday morning.

Virgin Atlantic, meanwhile, is facing a work-to-rule action from its pilots in a union recognition row.

More than 88% of the Professional Pilots' Union (PPU) members on Virgin Atlantic have voted to take action short of strike from 23 December, with a turnout of over 80%.

A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic said: "We expect our flying programme to remain unaffected during this period and want to reassure our customers that all flights are operating as normal."

Elsewhere, around 3,500 Post Office workers have started a five-day strike over job losses and changes to pension arrangements. The workers are represented by the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

Conductors on Southern rail are also walking out on Monday for 24-hours. The staff, represented by the RMT, are in dispute with management over the future role of rail guards on the network.