Daily Mail - 29.08.2019

Page 12 Daily Mail, Thursday, August 29, 2019

Now BA pay

strike pilots

say: We want

more talks

THE union behind a strike at

British Airways announced a

return to the negotiating

table last night – hours after

the Mail published pictures

of its boss on a luxury cruise.

Images of Balpa’s Brian Strut-

ton strolling with his wife in the

Sardinian sunshine, rather than

trying to resolve the dispute,

have angered passengers whose

travel plans are in disarray.

The £141,000-a-year general

secretary was also condemned by

Tory MPs for jetting off on the

seven-day cruise the morning after

announcing that BA pilots would

strike on September 9, 10 and 27.

Yesterday Balpa unexpectedly

contacted BA and offered to resume

peace talks in London via the con-

ciliation service Acas.

Jason Mahoney of BA wrote

straight back offering to meet imme-

diately – putting pressure on Mr

Strutton to cut short his holiday,

which is due to end on Saturday.

The letter from the airline was

addressed to Mark Keane, a young

and hardline BA pilot who is leading

pay negotiations for Balpa.

Mr Mahoney thanked Mr Keane

for his letter, saying: ‘I am pleased

to hear that you are willing to meet.’

He then asked Mr Keane who would

be attending the talks and when he

would be available to meet.

Mr Strutton was last night sched-

uled to be cruising from the Tuscan

port of Livorno to Palamos in Spain.

A source close to the negotiations

said the decision by Balpa was

clearly the result of pressure applied

by the Mail and the backlash against

Mr Strutton’s holiday.

The 59-year-old has insisted he

was willing to talk and could be

contacted while away. He also said

that BA had refused his offer last

Thursday to resume negotiations.

Talks broke down after both sides

refused to budge.

More than 3,000 Balpa members

who fly for BA – including captains

paid an average of £167,000 – have

rejected an 11.5 per cent pay rise over

three years plus a 1 per cent bonus.

The strikes are set to disrupt the

travel plans of up to 450,000 passen-

gers. Hundreds of flights have been

cancelled, with BA forced to rebook

some customers on other airlines.

Many have been forced to aban-

don their holidays, or have need-

lessly forked out for alternative

flights after being wrongly told by

BA that their bookings had been

cancelled. The airline has been

heavily criticised for its response,

with passengers complaining they

struggled to get through to its call

centre to rearrange their flights.

A BA spokesman said: ‘This is

encouraging news for our custom-

ers. We have continued to urge

Balpa to return to talks since they

issued strike dates and are pleased

by this welcome development.’

n A militant union boss warned his

long campaign of rail chaos will con-

tinue as he was re-elected for

another five years yesterday.

Mick Cash, the £154,000-a-year

general secretary of the Rail, Mari-

time and Transport union, said: ‘We

will leave no one behind in the pur-

suit of workplace justice and we will

stand and fight wherever that prin-

ciple comes under attack.’

The union is taking action against

South Western Railway tomorrow.

By James Salmon

Transport Editor

By Transport Editor

Take off for Virgin’s new f lying lady

VIRGIN Atlantic yesterday unveiled
its first ‘diverse’ flying lady logo.
The airline announced in April that
its original pin-up, firmly out of fash-
ion in her risque garb, would be
replaced with men and women ‘rep-
resenting modern Britain’.
And so, leaping off the side of its
new Airbus A350, is an icon of a black
woman holding a Union Jack.
The plane, named Red Velvet, is the
first of 12 new aircraft to be unveiled
by Virgin – which has clearly gone
back to the drawing board since it
first released sketches of the new
figureheads earlier this year.
In the initial images, the characters
were dressed in skimpy red leotards

• but this flying lady looks more
  demure in a ruffled white blouse and
  high-waist shorts.
  The airline did not explain the cos-
  tume change yesterday and would

not confirm whether the other char-

acters – who include a black man, a

gay man, an Asian woman and a red-

haired woman – will lose their leo-

tards, too.

The original flying lady was based

on pin-up girls made famous by Peru-

vian artist Alberto Vargas in the 1930s

and 1940s.

Now Virgin says it will be the first

airline in the world to put male fig-

ureheads on the sides of its planes.

Fall from grace: Virgin’s original pin-up icon, in her daring outfit

Modest:

A modern

flying lady

OLD

NEW

MY HOLIDAY’S

ALRIGHT, JACK!

From yesterday’s Mail