15 Dec 2009

BA cabin crew vote for 12 days of strikes

6:44 am on 15 December 2009

British Airways cabin crew have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strikes over Christmas in a dispute about jobs, pay and conditions.

The strikes are set to begin on 22 December and run until 2 January.

Cabin crew voted by nine to one in favour of the strike with an 80% turnout.

Unions are unhappy about job cuts and changes to staff contracts, which they say they have not been consulted on.

The BBC reports BA has reduced the number of cabin crew from 15 to 14 on all long-haul flights and frozen pay for two years.

BA says it urgently needs to cut costs to ride out its dire financial situation.

Last month it revealed it had lost £292 million in the first half of the year and said it would have to cut a further 1200 jobs.