Virgin Atlantic strike threat

VIRGIN Atlantic is facing its first strike in its 26-year history. The airline’s pilots say the carrier is reneging on a deal made earlier in the year concerning holiday entitlements.

The pilots’ union, the British Airline Pilots’ Association is meeting airline managers today to start negotiations. Virgin Atlantic says it is “very happy to talk”.

The pilots claim they agreed to a pay freeze earlier in the year to help the airline through a difficult slump on the condition that their entitlements – five weeks holiday and rostered days off for working on weekends and bank holidays – was left untouched. Virgin Atlantic has now apparently withdrawn that rostered days-off allowance.

Any vote for strike action would take about three weeks to organise so it is unlikely to happen before October if it goes ahead.