Striking BA cabin crew claim low pay means they sleep in cars

A BA cabin crew worker has said that the most expensive things she and her friends own are the uniform they work in thanks to the low wage they receive for their work at the airline.

Striking alongside 2,900 other staff to protest how much BA staff are paid, air hostess Charly Bacon said that staff have even slept in their car because they cannot afford to pay for a room in hotels or crew rooms in the area where they land and have to stay overnight.

"You expect to be able to afford things like phone bills, rent and petrol for your car, as well as work and love the job that you do, but unfortunately that is not the case," she said to Sky News.

"I've experienced friends having to sleep in their cars because they can't afford the hotels around the area or they can't afford the crew rooms.

"There comes a point where you think: 'how much do I have to sacrifice?'

"I'm sacrificing my health, I'm sacrificing my time. How much more do they want from me?"

Nearly 3,000 cabin crew are on strike from the airline, after cabin crew wages were reported to start at £12,000 ($14,900) and reach an average of £16,000 per year, says union Unite.

However, BA argues that with staff perks, such as allowances and bonuses, that figure reaches £21,000.

BA's head of cabin crew Karen Slinger said: "We've been talking to Unite now for several months about cabin crew pay, so we've offered a very fair and reasonable pay rise to our cabin crew colleagues, which has been accepted by over 92% of our colleagues across British Airways.

"We desperately want to resolve this as soon as possible and hope that Unite will accept that offer on behalf of their colleagues."

The staff will end the strike on 21 February after four days of action, with another four day strike planned for 23 February.