Search: BA court dispute
The dispute over new schedules for British Airways cabin crew is to return to the High Court.
The estimated five-day hearing before Sir Christopher Holland in London will resolve whether there should be a permanent injunction preventing BA from imposing cost-cutting proposals.
BA says that it is entitled unilaterally to reduce cabin crew complements on board its Worldwide and Eurofleet flights as these are not terms of individual cabin crew members' contracts.
But the workers union Unite says BA would be in breach of contract by imposing the changes as the existing crew complements were fixed by collective agreements with the unions and were "expressly incorporated" into individual contracts.
In November, when the union agreed "unwillingly" to work the new schedules pending trial, its QC, John Hendy, said the changes would "materially and detrimentally affect the health and wellbeing of staff and passengers on board the flights".
BA's stance was that, while there would be a "modest increase in work output" for cabin crew, there were no health and safety concerns and the granting of an injunction would be a "commercial catastrophe".
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Unite is re-balloting its 12,000 cabin crew members at BA for industrial action over the row, with the result due on February 22.
