All British Airways Staff To Return To Work
Source: CNN
113,000 People Affected By Cancelled Heathrow Flights
LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Airways says all of its employees who took part in an unofficial strike that crippled flights at Heathrow airport have agreed to return to work.
Some BA baggage handlers and other employees reported for duty on Friday morning.
However, the remaining 1,000 workers chose to end their action after it was announced that talks would be held to try to resolve a row involving a firm which supplies food to the airline.
BA limited flights would begin leaving Heathrow at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT).
About 113,000 travelers have been affected by the dispute, the airline said.
"We face a complex logistical challenge with at least 100 aircraft and 1,000 flying crew out of position. As a result, it will take some time to return to a normal flying program," said Mike Street, BA's director of customer services and operations.
"We recognize how frustrating this must be but we are working as hard as we can to get customers away on their holidays."
The airline warned that disruption could last for days.
The government-backed mediation service ACAS announced it would oversee talks in a bid to resolve the dispute, which started Thursday when baggage handlers, loaders and cargo staff began an unofficial strike in support of sacked catering workers.
The Transport and General Workers' Union and catering firm Gate Gourmet will meet to try to break the deadlock in the row which sparked wildcat strikes by baggage handlers.
A BA spokeswoman told Reuters the airline had cancelled around 535 of Friday's flights, on top of the 121 cancelled Thursday when the strike action started.
Arriving flights were diverted to airports as far away as Newcastle in northern England and Glasgow, Scotland.
Qantas, Finnair, British Mediterranean and Sri Lankan Airlines, which use BA ground staff, also canceled their flights from Heathrow on Friday.
Staff at Heathrow -- the world's busiest international airport -- handed out food and water to hundreds of passengers, many of whom had spent the night on airport benches and floors. Travelers stood in long, slow-moving lines in an attempt to get on flights with other airlines.
BA has appealed to customers booked on Friday's flights not to go to Heathrow but to check on their status online or by calling BA.
A union representing Gate Gourmet, which provides onboard meals for British Airways flights, said the company had fired 800 workers on Wednesday. The company said 667 workers had been dismissed.
British Airways' workers, including baggage handlers and loaders represented by the same union -- the Transport and General Workers' Union -- stopped work in sympathy with the fired catering staff.
Later Thursday, another union representing BA check-in staff advised members to stop work for health and safety reasons after angry passengers took out their frustrations on staff.
BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington said in a statement Thursday: "It is a huge disappointment to us that we have become embroiled in someone else's dispute."
A ripple effect was also felt at other airports, including some in the United States. "We have two British Airways jets parked on our runway," said Harold Johnson, spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport.
"When the strike is over, they'll probably just take those two planes and fill them with people and fly out." No one was stranded at the airport, he added.
Gate Gourmet maintained that workers staged an unofficial strike, but the Transport and General Workers' Union accused managers of deliberately provoking the dispute.
Gate Gourmet's Chief Executive Davd Siegel told CNN this was the third straight August that BA staff had taken industrial action affecting passengers. "This seems to be an annual occurrence," he said.
"BA doesn't seem to take responsibility for how their passengers are being affected," he said.
Asked whether his company was trying to bring in American-style industrial relations practices, he said: "We are an international company, I am an American, we operate in more than 30 countries.
"The fact is this is a British labor problem, and we are dealing with it according to British law. Regretfully our employees took an illegal action. We spent over two hours trying to convince them to return to work and regretfully after repeating warnings -- written and verbal -- we had to dismiss them."
He said the door was open for negotiations with the Transport and General Workers' Union to try to settle the dispute. "We are actively engaged in trying to find a solution," he said.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
