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British Airways cabin crews staged a three-day walkout this week, to protest a proposed pay freeze and staffing cuts, said Michael Carolan and Daniel Michaels in The Wall Street Journal. The
strike snarled air traffic across Europe, as BA canceled about 40 percent of long-haul flights. BA Chairman Willie Walsh has taken a “hard line” with Unite, the cabin crews’ union, and he
appears to be “willing to take a hit to this year’s results to achieve long-run cost reductions.” The strike cost BA an estimated $15 million a day in revenue; a second, four-day strike is
slated to begin March 27.
Travelers are “bracing for even worse times to come,” said David Jolly in The New York Times, as labor strife spreads to other European airlines. Alitalia flight crews and baggage handlers
disrupted service with a four-hour strike this week, Air France crews plan a four-day walkout next week, “and pilots at Lufthansa and TAP Portugal are also in a combative mood.” The unions
want pay increases and no reductions in cabin staffing, which management says are crucial to the airlines’ financial health.
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