Two 48-hour strikes at Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic cabin crew, who are members of the Unite union, are to stage two 48-hour strikes in January after they voted in favour of industrial action.

Unite national officer, Brian Boyd, said the strikes will run for 48 hours each, starting at 0600 on Wednesday 9 January and from 0600 on Wednesday 16 January. In a statement, Mr Boyd said that they have not taken this decision lightly, they are a world-class crew who have been undervalued for too long and are underpaid compared with their counterparts at other airlines.

The union said it had rejected the company’s final pay offer of a 2-year deal, 4.8% in the first year and an increase in line with inflation in the second year. The union balloted 3,100 workers of whom 2,102 voted, with 1,497 voting in favour of strike action - the first industrial action in the airline’s history.

Virgin Atlantic said they were surprised that Unite had taken this step of calling action when they had previously helped to put together the deal and strongly recommended that its members accept it. There will be no eleventh hour change to our pay offer said Virgin.

Steve Ridgway of Virgin Atlantic has said that it will do everything it can to get passengers to their destinations. The airline is owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Singapore Airlines.

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